A Strange Fate
by the unknown spirit
Summary: The Akatsuki will go down in history as one of the truly evil organizations in the world of the Elemental Nations. The people who made up the Akatsuki however, will not be as easily judged. But what would happen if after their demise, the group that once demanded fear and awe was sent hurling into the world of the Justice League. Nothing uninteresting. That's for certain
1. Itachi Uchiha

It's a strange thing, facing death with a smile. The very concept of death is viewed with such negativity and contempt that you'd think it'd be impossible for the divines to do it let alone regular mortals. Nevertheless, there are those strange exceptions who defy this trend. Souls who suffer from either being too brave, foolish, wise, or just too damn tired not to look at the end of their lives with anything less then a grin. For better or worse, Itachi Uchiha had been one of those people. Having been born in a time of turmoil for his home, he had learned very early on how the world was a dark and cruel place. And that simply living life, much less living a good one was gargantuan task that far too many took for granted. So he decided not long after his first battle that he would live his definition of what was a good life. The life of a protector. A guardian who looked after his family, his friends, their families and the place they all called home in Konoha. That was all the dream had ever been. Someone else could be leader. Someone else could be the best, the smartest, or the most powerful. Those titles meant nothing to him. As long as he could watch over those who were close to him and the people and place he called home, he would be happy. And yet, in spite of that worthy, selfless goal fate had decided he should instead be the opposite.

Despite being good hearted and wise enough to know when not to fight, Itachi had a natural ability for battle and killing that rivaled or surpassed any of the great warriors that had been born to the Elemental Nations. A gift that ,whether wanted or not, transformed him into one of the most feared men in Konoha. He rose through the shinobi ranks at an astonishing pace. Outclassing his comrades in everything he did. Weaponry, stealth, genjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu. Sure, there were some who could best him in a single area, but there was no one who could practice all of them to the level that he could. Eventually eclipsing his classmates completely and joining the elite of the elite. The ANBU BLACKOPS.

Yet, even after joining a notably dark and secretive organization such as the ANBU, Itachi had always tried to remain a cheerful person. Always greeting people with a light smile that most would simply overlook. Perhaps, seeing the worst humanity had to offer made him appreciate the good even more or perhaps he was simply a nice guy. Whatever the case was, those years with the Anbu ended up being the happiest years of his life. He was loved by the village, respected by his comrades, celebrated by his family, revered by his little brother, and perhaps the one thing he never really appreciated, it all felt simple and right. He was the good guy, the Uchiha were the good guys, Danzo, Hiruzen, Minato, and even Orochimaru for a while. All of them were allies everyone who served Konoha was good and those who stood against it were evil. Was that ever really the case? Deep down he knew the truth, but for those few years, he was perfectly fine with believing that it was.

Then things began to crack in his perfect world. He realized just how deep Danzo's schemes went, he realized the citizens of Konoha were turning on the Uchiha, he saw the Uchiha being backed into a corner and knew that they weren't going to stand it forever. It was then, he had personally asked to be taken out of the ANBU and serve directly under Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and try to act as a mediator between the Konoha government's suspicion and the Uchiha's pride and rage. To try and save his idealistic world he had lived in for so long. For all his skills though, negotiating was not one of them. Soon enough his hopes for peace began to fade as his mediator role began to dissolve to him simply spying on his own clan for the Sandaime. And the normally decisive and quick thinking Itachi, found himself being torn apart between his loyalties. Who was he supposed to protect if he couldn't save both? His home or his family?

His stress began to get the better of him and eventually he confided in the only soul he really trusted more so then even his little brother, Shisui Uchiha, prominent member in the Uchiha police force and his oldest friend. Matching himself in almost category of skill and ever the optimist, he had hoped Shisui would be able to help quell the situation before it exploded into conflict. Shisui listened to everything Itachi told him with a relaxed eyes that occasionally flared up in surprise or anger and once he finished, decided on a solution. Together they decided that the best way to stop anything from happening, at least immediately was to cast a genjutsu Shisui possessed over the entire village and make them sort of forget their growing animosity for the Uchiha. A genjutsu so powerful yet so subtle on that scale would almost certainly kill him. But like Itachi, Shisui took that as a small price to pay for a lasting peace and would do it gladly. Just like that, there was a plan. A plan to turn things back to normal like it never happened. Naturally, it was too good to be true.

Danzo had coveted Shisui's technique for some time and after learning of what he intended to do with it, acted on his urges. He crippled the Uchiha warrior and stole one half of his Sharingan. Destroying any chance of the plan being put into the action. Itachi's rage got the better of him and he briefly wondered if his family was right to rebel. But Shisui put those thoughts to rest, reminding him that even with his weakened, it was better than everyone else dying in a war. The wounds that Shisui suffered would ultimately prove fatal however, and to keep Itachi from possibly going to war on Danzo and Konoha itself, Shisui made him swear to find another way. That Konoha was built on the idea of finding one. And with those last words, he gave his friend his remaining eye and asked him to end his suffering. Granting him a power legendary among the Uchiha but ultimately leaving him to confront the inevitable alone.

The weeks that followed Shisui's death proved to be the worst Itachi had ever experienced. Riots were occurring against or for the Uchiha all the time and each time one occurred, things got more and more tense between them and Konoha. Itachi himself began to become an outcast in his own home. His father grew ever more distant, his mother acting like he wasn't even there. His former friends and comrades turning on him, growing suspicious of what had truly happened to Shisui. Saying that Itachi had killed him to grab power. All his loved ones had begun to turn their backs to him. All except one.

From the day he was born, Sasuke had always been one of the few shining lights in Itachi's life. He was HIS little brother. Someone he would always need to watch over and defend. He was kind, caring, energetic, youthful, and above all else genuinely soft hearted. As if he was too innocent and good to have been born into this world. He could do nothing wrong as far as Itachi was concerned. He was the one person who never turned on him or treated him differently, partly because he didn't quite understand why the others did and partly because he idolized Itachi. More than his father or any of the Kages, he was Sasuke's hero. Itachi never really knew how to react to such adulation but was nevertheless proud to be the center of it and strove to prove it whenever he could. And in those dark days, nothing meant more to him then simply spending time with his brother trying to forget about the incoming conflict.

Finally, the choice became unavoidable. The village stood at the edge of an abyss and the slightest thing would send it spiraling into all out war. He had to decide who he would ultimately side with. The Uchiha or Konoha. And the decision he made would ultimately shape the course of not only Konoha but perhaps the entire world.

He knew the Uchiha would never accept anything accept unconditional surrender if they went to war so the options dwindled down to a first strike mission. Before they would attempt to mobilize, they would be eliminated. Knowing the weight of what had to happened would've killed any other, he decided to do the task himself. He had only one condition for the Sandaime to meet if he was going to do this. Sasuke was to be spared. He would be looked out for by the entire village and hopefully be far away when this happened. Hiruzen accepted the agreement and reluctantly gave Itachi the permission to perform the task, informing him that no one could know that Konoha was responsible for what would occur. In essence he would become a fugitive wanted dead or alive by Konoha. Itachi took all of this with a simple nod and bow and when the night of the task came. Garbed in his Anbu uniform under the light of a full moon, he began what would ultimately be his last mission for Konoha.

By the night's end, every Uchiha save one had been slaughtered and the one who survived had been scared for life and set down a path of vengeance that would ultimately destroy any sense of childlike wonder or innocence he had. And as for Itachi, well he knew that their would be no redemption for what he had done. He had committed the ultimate sin, and to the rest of the world established himself as a powerful monster. With his dreams shattered, his loved ones dead and his home saved, all he could hope for now was a good death at the hands of his brother once he had found the strength to do so.

The eight years that followed came and went for Itachi with only a few things really leaving a mark on him. He joined an organization called the Akatsuki as a double agent, he drove out Orochimaru from the group, he met his little brother a few years to early and had to once again tear his soul apart as he brought Sasuke to his knees in front of his friend and to top it all off, fate had decided to punish him for his crime by giving him a disease that only seemed to weaken him as the years went on with strong coughing fits and frequent bouts of illness. Still though, despite all of that it was once again simple for Itachi. He was the bad guy working with other bad guys now and that was fine. He would play the role of villain until justice would one day get to him and that would the end of it. A simple fantasy that he always tried to believe in.

That day finally came when an older battle hardened Sasuke faced him at the ancient Uchiha Temple. This was it. There was no going back from this. Sasuke wouldn't stop until he had killed him and he deserved to be faced with all the power Itachi could still muster. The battle they had shook the ground around them leveling the temple and scaring the very land itself. Itachi wanted to see everything his brother had learned. Every jutsu he had under his disposal and every trick he had under his sleeve. The sight of his brother's skill made Itachi prouder than almost anything else and decided to end things by giving Sasuke a glimpse at a technique he hadn't yet acquired. The Susanoo. And when Sasuke fully saw what such a technique could do, that was that. Itachi's strength had finally exhausted itself into oblivion and he collapsed right next to his brother. Dying with a smile on his face.

That was supposed to be the end of it. That was supposed to finally send him to hell with the worst demons and monsters ever to grace the planet and seal him there for eternity. But that wouldn't be enough however. He returned to life as Reanimated corpse bound to serve under a power mad villain named Kabuto along with his other Reanimated warriors. His first battle however, freed him of this predicament and now as a unbound undead warrior, he charged off towards Kabuto to put an end to his scheming and free the other souls he had forced back into servitude.

So he was to get one last chance to be the good guy huh? That worked just fine for him. Maybe he could actually live his dream one last time before truly dying. Fate proved kind to him that day as not only did he face Kabuto as the hero but did with the help of his brother. A sight he was sure he would never see again. Sasuke himself had figured out the truth about Itachi and had very mixed feeling about his brother. Wondering why he chose Konoha over the Uchiha but decided to help his brother defeat Kabuto before getting answers. And that battle despite being so much smaller in scale than his fight with Sasuke, might've actually been his proudest moment. Sasuke had grown into just as good of warrior as any of the legendary figures had been and his movement and technique were fashioned into all his own not taking queues from any of them.

Finally the battle finished with Kabuto subdued and him releasing the jutsu that held Itachi's soul and the souls of all those who were resurrected back to the afterlife. He was sad to see his brother clearly angry and confused and sad about his return to the grave but decided to end it on a note that would ultimately change Sasuke's path.

You see, ever since the death of his family, Sasuke's path had only growled darker and darker. To the point that his skills threatened to destroy everything Itachi had hoped to still protect. He blamed Konoha for their deaths and was hell bent on burning it and everyone who lived there to the ground. His chance meeting his his undead brother however began to crack that plan of action and by the time the battle with Kabuto had ended was now more confused about it then ever. He asked what Itachi wanted him to do. Itachi wanted to say protect Konoha. He wanted to say do as I and Shisui did and live for the greater good. Be a protector. But he loved his brother too much to tell him that and in truth he had often wondered if he himself had done the right thing. So he decided to give the one thing Sasuke needed more than anything else, reassurance.

"That's for you to decide Sasuke. But no matter what happens…" He grabbed the backs of his brother's head and pushed his own head forward until both made contact. Staring into his brother's tear filled eyes, he told him what would never be untrue. "I will always love you." He smiled, gratified he had gotten to say those last words as his body began to disappear in bright ray of light. Sasuke was too awestruck to say anything back as Itachi closed his eyes and took in one last breath as his body returned to the dust and his soul return back to hell.

So that was that. That was how the story of Itachi Uchiha came to an end….or at least it should've been. It seemed fate wasn't finished with him yet.

A brilliant flash of light dumped his body his body in a dark snow ridden Gotham city alleyway crashing down into an overflowing dumpster and scaring some poor hobo who looked to see what the hell just made that noise. His musings led him to said dumpster and widened his eyes when he saw the body of a naked young man lying in the dumpster. Now any self respecting Gotham hobo would've just left him there saying it was none of his business and do their best to forget what he saw. This particular hobo however felt that he couldn't very well leave a naked breathing man lying there in the cold snowy trash and so with a few grumbled curses he rolled the young man out of the trash. Unknowingly starting a chain reaction that would forever change the world around him.

* * *

 **A/N: Tada! I think we're good for the first one. So yeah, I finally worked up the courage to write a DCAU-Naruto Crossover. I know it was almost entirely a recap of stuff we've seen already but I think it was necessary. After all, I'd say dying causes someone to look back on their life and since Itachi's done it twice. Well you get the idea.**

 **I also know some things about the backstory he has aren't exactly canon so just consider this a slight AU then. It's not like its that far off from the original anyway.**

 **So what did you think? Good? Bad? Leave me a review and let me know**. **Special thanks to Afalstein for writing my inspiration for this work in _Connectiong the Dots_. If you haven't already, go read it**


	2. Welcome to Gotham

Gotham always looked odd when the snow fell. It never powered through it like Metropolis does and it never really added anything to it like in say Star City. The snow just sort of mixed in with the architecture, streets, and cars to form something almost entirely new city. Now did that change the inhabitants at all? Well, unfortunately the people who call this city home are too stubborn for their own good.

"Does that do it for the night sir?" Alfred's voice asked into Batman's ear. Batman ducked under a clumsy punch from an assailant and offered a strong boot to the back of the man's head that sent him to the ground unconscious.

"You should know the answer by now Alfred." Batman replied.

"But sir, with master Dick and his friends coming home for Christmas in a few days…"

"He's coming home to see you Alfred." Batman pointed out not bothering to believe any other reason.

"Sir…."

"I'll keep in touch." Batman said cutting off the voice before looking around at the five odd assailants lying in the snow covered street next to some rather expensive looking weaponry that while deadly in trained hands, proved useless to a few small time punks. " _Guns are moving through the West End again. Probably coming in from the Port."_ Batman thought to himself as he grabbed each downed individual and placed them around a nearby glistening light post tying them to it so they wouldn't get any ideas. He grabbed the now obsolete guns and walked towards his rumbling transportation. After depositing the weapons safely in the trunk, he leaped over the hood of the Batmobile and into the driver's seat. The engine roared with power before blasting back onto the wintery road sending thick clouds of snow into the air that all came back down in a dazzling show.

"Bruce?" A new voice said from his communicator.

"What is it Clark? Trouble with Toyman?" Batman asked.

"Well not anymore." His friend said smiling a few hundred miles away as said Toyman was carted into the back of a heavily fortified van. "Honestly, I think he's not trying as hard."

"Well don't let him hear that." Batman replied whizzing by a slower car.

" Alfred called. He said your worried about Dick."

"I'm not worried about him." Batman grumbled annoyed at his butler's ability to contact pretty much any one of his friends. "He won't want to see me so I'm doing him a favor."

"Well why wouldn't he want that?"Superman asked.

"Because of a mistake." Batman replied simply.

"Not going to elaborate?"

"Trust me you wouldn't either." Batman said his voice heavy with regret that sounded strange coming from him.

"Ok but I think you should at least try and talk it out. You never know when you might not be able to again." Superman said concerned for his friend as he took off into the Metropolis sky.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You mean you'll ignore it." Superman pointed out with a light twinge of humor just as Batman cut of the the transmission. That boy scout advice of his always got under his skin. But at the same time, it was almost always right. Batman knew he would have to talk to Dick about what had happened between them one day. And with no possible world ending events happening in the last six months since the Darkseid incident. Well to be perfectly blunt, they were due for another one at any time. So that day would have to come sooner rather than later. But not now. Now he would simply respond to a loud police alert that screamed out how two armed gunmen were robbing a nearby jewelry store.

* * *

"Hey Frank. Where the hell have you been?" A tall sized lumbering man asked to the new figure who walked into the light cast by a small dumpster fire. The man named Frank waved to both his greeter and to the two others who sat by the crackling flames. Dropping from his shoulders a suspiciously human sized blob wrapped in discarded newspapers and secondhand rags that maybe once upon a time could've been considered clothes at his side.

"Frank? Please tell me that isn't what I think it is?" One of the sitting men asked his voice high with worry as he pointed towards the wrapped up object.

"Relax Paul." Frank replied trying to ease the worry before it spread. "He's still alive. I found him in a dumpster."

"Is he okay?" Asked a feminine voice.

"I'm not sure. I heard him crash into it so he could have been wanting to end it." Frank replied casting a strange look over to the man.

"Then you should've left him." The larger man said.

"Hey, it's the Christmas season, maybe all he needs is someone to talk to." Frank reasoned. "Remember how bad off you were when we met, Wallace?"

Wallace huffed behind his covered face and looked away causing Frank to laugh and look over to the only female in the group. "Would you mind taking a look at him Janice?"

"Sure, honey." The smaller figure named Janice replied pulling back her hood to reveal a face of early sixties, light grey hair, and kind blue eyes moving towards the unconscious person and bending over to look at him. He was at least partly Asian but didn't look it completely and even if he had been it wouldn't have done anything to his looks as far as she was concerned. "Well, he's certainly a fine looking young man." She said with no small sense of awe. "He's got better hair than I do."

"That's not exactly hard to do." Paul said speaking causing a middle finger to be pointed his way. A few more moments passed before she spoke again.

"He's perfectly healthy. Not visible scars, bruises, nothing. He's honestly in better shape than any of us." She said with a sigh.

"So what then? Stockbroker who lost all his money?" Wallace asked throwing out any possible suggestions at who the stranger was.

"We should wait and ask him." Janice said looking back towards the figure. "His body's exhausted but he sounded like he was waking up." She was proven right when the stranger began to groan and force himself off the ground. At the risk of watching him fall back over, Frank and Janice moved to hold him up. They did so just in time as the man fell back into their arms trying desperately get control of his body.

"Whoa. Easy son, you fell ten stories." Frank said. The man looked up to the voice that spoke with onyx covered eyes that seemed to radiate confusion. He moved to speak but found his throat was far too dry to do that, making a small dry noise rather than actual words. Janice seemed to catch up on this and looked over to Wallace. The large man nodded grumpily at the look and pulled out a glass bottle filled with a dark colored liquid.

"Here honey. It's not water but it should perk you up." Janice said grabbing the glass and pouring some of the liquid down the man's throat. He nearly coughed it back up at first but quickly got used to the flavor and downed close to half the bottle in one go before finally breathing. Frank took the bottle away from his hands and help him sit back on the ground. The man looked at all of them now as his he began to fully realize his surroundings and just how cold it was. He immediately pulled the makeshift newspaper blanket closer to his skin causing Paul to laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." He said smiling at the Asian. "So, you-cold-long-time?"

"Paul." Janice scolded punching him in the shoulder. He once again laughed it of rubbing his shoulder clearly confusing the stranger even more.

"Where am…" His voice caught in his throat. Those words weren't his. Were they? Didn't he sound different? Didn't he speak something else?

"Welcome to Gotham. Crown jewel of the U.S." Frank said with a noticeable sarcastic voice. Itachi's eyes widened yet again as he could perfectly understand the man and his strange sounding words. The man himself was dressed modestly with raggedy clothes and a strange looking hat coupled with a thick brown beard and hazel eyes. "Names Frank."

"Frank?" Itachi repeated back to the man who nodded. What a strange name.

"That's right. That big fella over there is Wallace." Frank said pointing to the tallest figure with a bald head, green eyes who dressed in similar rags. "Paul." He said pointing over to the thinner man who waved in greeting. "And Janice." He finished looking over to the elderly woman. She gave a slight head bow in greeting. Ok he took it back, they were all strange names. "So, you got a name stranger?" Frank asked.

"Itachi." He said in greeting. "Itachi Uchiha."

"Uchiha? Sounds Japanese." Wallace said pondering the name pronunciation.

"Japanese?" Itachi asked not recognizing the name yet understanding it as his mind began to race with even more questions. The most problematic of which was that small little issue of not being dead. By all accounts he was alive if tired and cold.

"What? Never heard of the Japs?" Wallace asked only to be hushed by Janice.

"Let's give a minute to think." She said. Itachi would've thanked her if not for the literal dozens of questions that now ran through his mind. Why was he alive? What was this Gotham city ? Why was he speaking and understanding a language he never heard before? Why was it snowing? None of it made sense!

"What's the last thing you remember honey?" Janice asked clapping his shoulder trying to comfort the clearly confused young man. He looked at the hand and then to the person who it belonged to. His concerned face relaxed somewhat at meeting her kind eyes.

"Dying." He said simply.

The four looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Yes. I'm sure it sounds strange."

"Well not as strange as you might think. What with all the weirdos who fly around these days." Paul replied.

"You do know half of them can probably here you right?" Frank replied.

"Oh yeah, well they can PISS OFF FOR DESTROYING MY HOUSE!" He screamed out to the cloud filled dark sky and falling snowflakes.

"Feel better?" Janice asked.

" A little bit." He replied with a little laugh.

"You've lost your home?" Itachi asked. That definitely made sense considering the rags the man was wearing.

"We all have." Frank replied. "Paul lost his in a some superhero fight. Janice's ex took hers in the divorce. Wallace lost his job when the recession hit, and I got fired a while back." He said as each looked away at the sad reminder of their predicament.

"Well why stop there Frank? Want to tell him about my athlete's foot as well?" Wallace asked annoyed at the ball cap wearing man. Frank shrugged in reply causing Itachi to unknowingly grow a small smile.

"What about the buildings around here?" Itachi said staring up to the towering objects that currently surrounded them.

"All occupied. Otherwise we'd be there and out of this god damned cold." Janice complained with a shiver as she pulled her own paper blanket closer to her.

"I hear that. So what do you guys say to a little celebration." Wallace said pulling out a small wad of green paper. Itachi noticed everyone's faces light up at the sight and figured the roll of papers must've been this place's currency.

"Where did you get that much cash?" Frank asked.

"I managed to land score a job at the docks. Got my first check earlier today."

"Well then what the hell are we doing here? Let's get some steaks!" Paul yelled out excited as he turned to look at Janice. "Irene's?"

"Sounds good to me." Janice said with a nod straightening up. Frank nodded in agreement and helped Itachi to his feet. He had no idea where they were going but if the destination was food, he saw no reason to complain.

The walk to Irene's was beyond taxing for the Uchiha. Not because of his lack of strength. No that had been returning to him steadily with each step he took. But the sights that filled threatened to knock him on his ass. Fast moving vehicles called "cars" sped by all around them at speeds that could rival his own movements. The buildings that had surrounded them in that alleyway had proved to be actually minuscule in size compared many of the others. Some of the buildings reached so high into the sky he wondered if they were taller than any of structures back in Ame. The largest of which probably stood close to a hundred feet higher than the second tallest if Itachi had to guess. In particular about said building was the giant letter W illuminated on its side.

"Ah. First time seeing Wayne Tower?" Frank asked looking up to the structure with a small degree of awe. "I never get tired of seeing it."

"This Wayne. He is a person?" Itachi asked trying to get a feel for the city.

"Richest man in Gotham and probably the world." Frank said with a sigh. "Kind of a dick though if I'm being honest." Itachi's eyes widened at the very idea of how much money this Wayne must've had and chuckled lightly at the description at the end.

"Hey, you can reminisce about your job later. Let's eat!" Wallace suddenly yelled out to the pair as he opened a door to a small diner that sat comfortably in the shadow of several far bigger structures with the word plastered at the top in neon. Irene's.

* * *

Batgirl's thoughts should've been on her job. It was a cold night in Gotham and those hardly ever turned out well. But as she glided through the air and onto another rooftop, her thoughts constantly drifted back to Dick coming home for the holidays. They hadn't seen each other in forever and the idea should've filled her with excitement. Instead though, all she felt was anxious. It wasn't like she didn't understand why, nor could she blame him for doing it. But she had hoped that the three of them had put what happened behind them but now with him coming back, she wondered if it would actually stay buried.

"Hey Batgirl?" A voice echoed into her ear.

"Yeah? What's up Huntress?"

"Not much. Just kind of bored." Huntress replied.

"How's Tim doing?"Batgirl asked looking over the side down to the sparsely populated streets below.

"He's fitting right in." Huntress said with a smile as the sound of skulls bashing together echoed all around her as well as a childlike laugh that followed. Soon enough a young crime fighter flipped over to her side and raised an eyebrow through his mask.

"I thought you were going to join in."

"Some other time Red. Right now, I'm honestly hungry." Huntress said ruffling the boy's head. The boy in question was dressed head to toe in a crimson colored outfit with an R stitched into the right side of his chest. "What do you say Batgirl? Want to grab us some food?"

"Sure." Batgirl grumbled annoyed that she had been volunteered but nevertheless feeling hungry herself. I got to make a patrol past the Southside anyway. I'll pick you guys up something along the way."

"How's that going to work exactly?" Tim's voice said, making itself known on the intercom. "Just walk up to a diner and ask for food dressed in your costume?"

"As long as they get their money, I don't think they'll really care." Batgirl pointed out before running to the opposite end of the roof and flipping into the air before activating her grapple.

"So you don't think he'll be mad?" Tim asked Huntress.

"Red, trust me. You're going to get off scotch free compared to the other Bats." Huntress admitted.

"I can still hear you two!" Batgirl's voice yelled before cutting off. Tim looked guilty but Huntress simply shrugged it off.

"Your fault for cheating on him." Huntress mumbled.

* * *

"Now this is food." Paul garbled out as he chewed on a medium well steak. "We're doing this every week now."

"With you appetite. I wonder if Wallace will ever do this for us again." Janice replied drinking some sweet tea.

"Let's just take this for what it's worth ok." Frank said looking over to his big friend. "Thanks for this."

"Don't mention it. Food's always better with friends." Wallace replied before looking over to see the empty plate of the newest member of their little entourage. Itachi had never been a voracious eater but for some reason or another, he had been hungry since he awoke and the food in this city was just so damn good. Especially considering he never particularly cared for steak before. In fact, he ate with such ferocity that several other people in the crowded diner had stopped to look over to him.

"That's…that's amazing." Itachi said fighting back the urge to ask for seconds. Especially considering that with every bite he took, he could feel his previously minuscule chakra supply grow.

"Knew you'd like it. Irene's had the best steaks in this town ever since I was a kid." Paul smiled with a decent burp. "Janice too, though I guess that was back in the Stone Age."

"Keep it up Paul. See if I help you out anymore." She said biting into her last steak piece.

Itachi smiled at the group's antics. They were definitely a mismatched sort and yet he couldn't imagine them working with anyone else. Strangely enough it reminded him of the last real group he had been a part of.

"Itachi?" Janice asked bringing him back to reality. He looked around at the concerned faces of the others before bowing his head.

"You ok? You looked lost in your own little world there." Frank said finishing his drink.

"Yeah speaking of which. Where are you actually from?" Paul asked. Itachi's eyes widened as a thought came to him.

"Do you have a map?" He asked. The four of them looked at each to answer him but before they could, three loud BANGS rocked the diner as three goons appeared into view.

"All right boys and girls. Just set your wallets to the side and we'll be in and out of your hair in no time." Their leader sneered. Despite the now fearful atmosphere that quickly flooded the diner, one person found himself just as composed as he had been before. The only real difference being that what was once a small smile had shifted into a neutral and slightly unsettling frown.

"Joke's on him. We have no money." Paul whispered as the two smaller goons began to go around the room while the one in charge moved to the register.

"Shut up Paul." Janice whispered back to him as she tried to position himself in front of Wallace. The action didn't go unnoticed by one of the thugs however who sneered and pointed a gun in her direction. Itachi didn't know what that object was but by Janice's body stiffening, it must've been dangerous.

"C'mon, cough up the dough."

"We're homeless. We don't have any—AH!" She shrieked as the gun crashed into the side of her head knocking her out of her seat and into the floor.

"Bullshit. You wouldn't be eating here if you didn't have any."

"HEY! Leave her alon—GHA!" Whatever courage Paul had disappeared as the same thug planted his foot into his stomach. Knocking him down as well.

"You three got anything to say?" He then asked to the three still sitting people waving the weapon around in each of their faces clumsily before stopping directly in front of Itachi's. The man pulled back and sneered at his calm look.

"Well now, we got ourselves a brave one?" He asked flipping the table out of the way and standing directly in front of the formerly dead ninja. "It's ok to be scared you know. Makes the job more entertaining."

Frank and Wallace gave a subtle nod to each other that meant not to try any thing but unfortunately Itachi didn't understand the gesture.

"Strange. Considering I don't find it the least bit amusing." Itachi said surprising Wallace and Frank in just how cold his voice then became and making eye contact with the robber's emerald colored eyes.

"Oh yeah?" The man growled out concerned by the look of pure ice that Itachi's eyes had become. He pointed the gun directly at Itachi's head an inch away from his nose."Well about I just blow your god damned head off?!"

Itachi's old Anbu instincts kicked in as he scanned the room taking in the locations of the other two assailants frighteningly quick before putting all of his attention back on the one. "With my luck? All it would do is piss me off."

The man was going to reply before a sudden tidal wave of fear washed over him as the previously onyx eyes that were staring into his own shifted into a far more intimidating color.

"Tsukuyomi." Itachi whispered.

* * *

 **A/N: And so the story continues. So yeah. I decided that I'm going to go ahead and acknowledge that Batman and Batgirl were a thing. It's not something I was particularly fond of but Bruce Timm was a fan of it and it was ultimately a part of his universe so I felt I had to. Also I think that's ultimately a good reason for Dick to strike out on his own and ultimately arrive in Jump City and form the Titans.**

 **Anyway? What did you think? Good? Bad? Leave a review and let me know your thoughts. I love reading and replying**.


	3. A Shinobi Appears

"So three double cheese burgers? One plain and the other two regular. Three large fry. And three waters. Anything else? A voice asked through at a drive through intercom.

"Nope. That'll be it. " Batgirl said back.

"All right, ma'am that'll be twenty two fifty at your first window."

Barbara nodded and started walking towards said window not really paying attention to the flabbergasted people in the car behind her. After a while of fighting monster criminals as a crime fighting member of the Batman family, the looks of civilians just seemed to become of the environment. So much so that she didn't even register the man's beyond surprised expression behind the window as she handed a roll of cash. No, she only responded when the stare he never gave back the change.

"Uh. I'm kind of in a hurry." She said politely. The man behind the counter immediately returned to normal and handed her her change.

"Thanks." She said moving the final window.

"Ok, Ma'am here's your….meal." The woman at the second window said nearly dropping the bag into Batgirl's arms before seeing who it in fact was.

"Nice. Thank you." She said happy to finally smell some food and immediately cradled the bag in one hand and activated her grapple. Catapulting her into the sky and soon out of sight from anyone at the drive through.

"Ok, Huntress. I've got….." She started into her comm, swinging through the air only for the sounds of multiple gunshots interrupted her thinking.

"Yeah? Barb?" Huntress voice asked back.

"I've got a situation. A little diner called Irene's a few blocks off from the Subway." Batgirl said planting herself on a roof top just opposite of said diner. "I'll be a few minutes."

"Need help?" Tim asked

"Nah. None of the big gangs, probably just some punks. I won't be long." She ended the conversation with that and placed the bagged food on the rooftop before descending down to the street. She ducked behind a parked car to avoid being sighted from the windows. Looking through the glass she could make out three decently built thugs each wearing ski masks that hid everything but their eyes and mouth and waving around fire arms aimlessly at the crowd. One shot gun and the other two hand guns. Yeah, this was going to be easy. Before she could leap into action however, one such thug moved to a table and started wailing on some people there. Ok he was going to get the worst of it.

She was right of course, that same thug then pointed the barrel of his gun straight at a young man's face. Not a second later, he collapsed. Before she could even wonder what had happened, the sitting man leapt up from his seat, grabbed the gun before it could hit the ground and fired off two shots towards two of the other robbers. One hit its mark, sending one of them to the ground with a loud yell while the other shattered some glass giving just enough time for the third man to duck behind the counter.

"Wallace, Frank, get them out of here." The young man ordered in a cold almost robotic tone that only further threw Batgirl for a loop. He couldn't have been much older than she was. He leapt into the air with grace giving her full proof that those quick reflexes hadn't been a trick and situated himself behind a knocked over table. Just then, she scolded herself for taking so long to get moving and leapt dashed towards the nearest window.

* * *

Itachi cursed himself and his recklessness. He knew his chakra was still too low for the Tsukuyomi and yet he had done it anyway to quickly as to avoid any further threats. But the Tsukuyomi had another purpose rather than simply saving his new found friends. He needed information and he needed it quickly. Trapping the gangster in the Tsukuyomi had given him plenty of time to get it. For three days, he convinced the man to tell him everything he knew about this new place. And all the answers he had gotten raised far more questions then answers. According to the man, the Elemental Nations didn't exist, there was no ninja villages anywhere in the world, the very landscape of the world wasn't the same as his own, and perhaps most interestingly, the world was populated with hundreds of strange costumed warriors called super heroes most of which were organized into a group known as the Justice League. He had to save all those thoughts for later however as he re focused and looked down at the gun in his hand. It definitely felt different then he had imagined it would be in his genjutsu but it certainly acted like he thought it would. In essence it was heavily modified crossbow with speed and power that no weapon back in the Elemental Nations could hope to match without chakra manipulation. He had learned the basics of shooting inside the illusion and was sure he could dispatch the other two quickly enough. He didn't account for the strain that the technique took on his eyes however and single but strong wave of pain hit it just as he fired on the last assailant narrowly missing his target. Ok. All he had do was simply surprise him.

"You bastard! I'll…." His words were cut off as the glass of nearby window shattered. Itachi glanced towards the sound and what he saw made his eyes widen. A young red haired woman garbed in a dark suit with sparks of yellow on her chest and hands had charged through the wall with an energetic smile. She pulled out a weapon that looked different than the one he had and saw her a metallic rope shoot out and wrap around the weapon of he assailant. Batgirl ripped the shotgun out of the man's hands and not two seconds later dropkicked him into the wall almost smashing through it and falling to the ground unconscious. She gave a smirk at his direction before looking around to see if anyone else had been hurt. Most had done exactly what the stranger had ordered and soon enough there was police lights on the scene along with the comforting blare of an ambulance. She breathed a sigh of relief and then turned to the only other conscious occupant in the diner.

Itachi stood back up to greet the newcomer. He was a little bit taller than her but that wasn't saying much. She held herself like a warrior ready to fight yet seemed relaxed at the same time and her eyes seemed to shine with curiosity and energy. All in all she was an interesting figure at the least. Her thoughts were similar though they were more focused on the strange pattern and color of his eyes.

" _Cape. Strange costume and colors_ _. Mask. Must be one of those Super Heroes_." Itachi thought to himself. Deciding it would be best to give a good impression, he offered a greeting smile. "My thanks."

"Don't mention it. You ok?" She asked studying the raggedy man before her. It wasn't just the garbage clothes that gave her such an impression either. Despite his fighting display, he just seemed so tired. Like he'd just woken up.

"I'm adequate." He replied trying his best to be reassuring.

"Well don't try to be the hero too often." She scolded. "Far too often it ends up making things worse."

"I wasn't my intention I assure you. I merely wished to protect my…acquaintances." He finished instead of friends. He had only after all just met them.

"I know. And for what it's worth, you've got quick reflexes." She said looking back to the one who had just seemed to drop over. His lack of breathing spelled out that he had left them. "Did he have a heart attack or something?"

"Put too much stress on the mind, and it will break." He said simply. Batgirl froze. Did this guy mentally attack him?

Her thoughts were stopped as the groans of a man that was supposed to be unconscious sounded off. Itachi quickly tore his gaze back to him and raised the gun pointing straight at he downed would be robber. Just as he fired, The gun was kicked out of his hands and into the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Batgirl yelled.

"He's still alive." Itachi replied confused by the action. "You did mean to kill him."

"NO!" She yelled. "I don't kill people!"

"Batgirl! Get out of the way!" A police man ordered entering the restaurant in time to see the action and raising his own firearm.

"Just wait a second, this guy he….." Batgirl began to explain only to hear fast moving footsteps moving away from her. She groaned as the man she was about to defend, run out the door and away from the police. "Look, I'll handle him. You just make sure these guys stay down." Batgirl ordered before taking off after Itachi. "Hey! Stop!" She called out to the man who had already gained a considerable distance from her.

"Jeez he's fast." She admitted only to be confused yet again as he leaped into the air at a height that wasn't supposed to be possible for a regular guy. And even weirder still, he wasn't aiming for a rooftop. He impacted on the side of a building a building and….started running along the outside of it horizontally. "Ok. New Meta. That's nice." She sighed before firing up her grapple yet again and swinging after him. Right past her bag of now cold burgers.

She followed him for close seven minutes. Constantly calling out for him to stop but to no response. Finally the pair slowed and it was here, she noticed that Itachi had actually been following something in the streets below. The pair had stopped on a rooftop overlooking Gotham General hospital and as she walked ran up beside him, she saw a pair of medics rush out of a now parked ambulance with a person strapped to a gurney along with what looked like three homeless people swiftly following them. She then looked over to the man standing beside her and was stunned at all the emotions were visible in his now onyx colored eyes. Regret and anger seeming to be the most prominent.

"An acquaintance of yours?"

"Yes. A woman named Janice." He replied. "Paul seems to be ok, but she looked hurt."

"You can see really well can't you? Was that what the red eyes did?" She asked.

"Amongst other things." He said swiftly. Annoyed by the lack of elaboration she decided to try another route.

"Look, uh I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Batgirl." She said extending a hand towards him. He finally turned his gaze away from the hospital and onto her. He somehow looked just as intimidating now as he had with the red eyes.

"Itachi Uchiha." He said knowing full well that no one here was going to recognize the name thanks to the knowledge granted to him the Tsukuyomi victim and shaking the hand. Noting that the gesture of trust was the same here as it was back home.

"Itachi…." Batgirl said with a nod. "Look, back at the diner. Were you really going to kill that man?"

"Yes." He replied simply. "I assumed you had meant too so when he started moving…. I meant no offense."

"Look, I'm not offended by it, but you can't just murder people. Didn't your parents teach you that?"

"They taught me how."

Well that line successfully disturbed her. She almost felt the need to vomit at the thought. Fighting back that feeling, she spoke again.

"So then what did you do to the guy who was attacking your friends?"

"I trapped him in an illusion and repaid the kindness a thousand fold." He explained simply. "He should still be technically alive if your worried." He added on though he couldn't really understand why she cared. Her eyes widened for a moment before sighing yet again.

"Ok look, who are you and where are you from?"

He looked like he was about to reply when a familiar voice began to shout into her ear.

"Batgirl, Batman needs us at the Port. Apparently Two face and Penguin are going at it." Tim's voice said.

"And bring the burgers." Huntress voice added on. Batgirl sighed

"Look, I'll be there in a second." She said before focusing back on Itachi. Or she would've if not for the fact that he had vanished. She dashed all over the roof and in all directions to try and see where he had went. Nothing. It was like he was never there at all.

"Well that figures." She said with a sigh before deciding to worry about it later and immediately took off towards the distress call, disappearing into the snowy city. Just then across the street from her Itachi came into view from behind the giant pine tree that was strapped to the top of Gotham General. Did he understand why it was there? No but he reminded himself that he was the stranger here so he had no right to complain. He then leapt down onto the street below landing as silently as was humanly possible and walking into the hospital.

* * *

As the night drugged on and the snow continued to fall at an almost constant rate, a man closed the blinds of his shop window with a heavy sigh. He never had liked the snow and had even more contempt for the time of year that currently held dominion over it. Still though, wasn't a lot he could do about it. He locked the door behind him and shut off all the crimson and green lights that had been strung up as well as the traditional ones and made his way upstairs to his home. Once inside he once again locked the door and marched over to the computer. His eyes dashed all over the screen as he scrolled through any new articles of crime that had happened in the city. As usual many of them blended together in a stream uselessness. Car jacking epidemic. Bank robbed. Muggings low from last month. Nothing of even remote interest to the man. He sighed and was about ready to close out the window when a new article appeared. A Diner held up. It didn't sound that unusual but he continued reading through it nevertheless. In a strange turn, it seemed a vagabond had helped one of the Bat family. There was a video attacked at the bottom of the article.

"Can you describe the rescuer besides Batgirl?" The voice of Vickie Vale asked a presumably to one of the people who had been in the diner.

"He just seemed rather plain looking honestly. Young, twenties, some long hair, just a poor homeless guy, until you saw the eyes."

The man's attention grew astronomically as he waited for the victim to continue.

"His eyes were really wired. All blood red with dark spots on his pupils. Honestly he looked more like a bad guy than a good guy."

The man paused the video and leaned back against his wooden chair. It was probably a coincidence. This world had been so populated with abnormalities that the odds for it actually being what he was hoping for were slim to none. And yet, what if it was? What if someone else had finally appeared in this new world? The thought was too comforting to simply discount. The man ran his thin fingers through his bright red hair and narrowed his gaze. If there was the slightest chance that it was actually him, he needed to start searching. He stood back up and grabbed a tan trench coat hanging against the wall. He then opened a window that led out to a fire escape. Closing it behind him just as a strong wind smacked against his body. He paid it no mind however and quickly leapt down onto the snow covered cement below. He sighed at the ground he would have to cover, but didn't hesitate. If this was truly a familiar face, maybe he would finally manage to get some answers on how he got here.

* * *

Superman smiled as the sight of his fully packed suit case. He was finally ready to get out of the city for the year and head back to Smallville. Ready to enjoy a nice calm Christmas with his parents and J'onn if he decided to pop up for the holidays. He looked back out to his apartment balcony as the snow continued to rain down, illuminated only by a nearby steep light and a small string of Christmas lights. just in time for his comm to go off.

"What's up?" He asked.

"You heading out yet?" Wonder Woman asked him from the pilot's seat of her Javelin as she flew through the blizzard.

"First thing tomorrow." Clark replied closing the blinds to his apartment balcony. "What about you? Going back to Themyscera?"

"Not this year. I'm actually spending the holidays with Bruce." Diana

"Well. That's some progress." Clark said smiling. "How'd you accomplish that?"

"Alfred." Diana's responded. "He seems really worried about Bruce not wanting to be home when the Titans show up in a few days."

"Yeah, I got that vibe too." Superman nodded in agreement. "So nothing's happening?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Diana replied. "There was an earthquake in the Pacific Islands, but Flash and some other League members have that covered. Though, Aquaman did say there had been trouble in Atlantis earlier today."

"Think we should investigate?" Clark asked.

"You know how he is." Diana answer back annoyed at the King of Atlantis' ever condescending tone. "Likes to keep his city to himself."

"Yeah. Kind of like another person we know." Clark finished. "I'll talk to you later Diana."

"Night Superman." Diana said before phasing out. With that out of the way. Superman collapsed onto his bed drifted into his sleep. Or rather tried to anyway. Despite this being what was supposed to be his favorite and most calming time of the year, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. As if something was coming or worse already here. He hated those types of feelings. Not because they stopped him from sleeping, but because they were almost always right.

* * *

 **A/N: Tada! And so it begins. I hope things aren't moving in too slow a pace for you guys. I like to take my time to build up to these things. I'd also like to thank everyone for the feedback so far. I'm glad you're all enjoying the story. As usual I humbly ask for you to leave your thoughts in the form of a reviews, flames, follows, or favorites. And I hope to see you all next time**.


	4. Uneasy Reunion

"I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU BASTARDS! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Aquaman couldn't believe the man who sat chained up in his prison cell. Even after attacking Atlantis in a strange blood craze, bringing down two dozen Atlantean soldiers who had tried to stop them, and even having the courage to face him in single hand to hand combat, he still had the energy to scream at the top of his lungs for hours on end. He had never this before. And considering the company he kept, that was saying something.

"AND WHEN YOUR SOULS FALL INTO HELL, LORD JASHIN WILL DEVOUR YOUR WORTHLESS, FUC—"

The audio from the cell shut off just in time as Aquaman sighed. The man also swore about as much as a eighty year old sailor so that didn't really help when it came to try and find meaning in his rants.

"My lord, we've scanned his body…." An Atlantean scientist hesitated appearing behind him.

"Speak up." Aquaman ordered.

"We're unsure of what to make of him sir." The woman admitted. "He's exceedingly odd."

"How so?" Aquaman asked interested in getting some answers.

" Well as you know, he has incredible strength and speed for a regular surface dweller and his stamina appears to be a at least three times the amount of normal surface dweller." She said. "But what's most curious is his self healing ability. He's healed completely from the broken bones you gave him when he attacked in just a few hours.

"I've noticed. We have any idea how?" Aquaman asked.

"It's definitely not scientific." She replied. "My guess would be magic."

"Hmm." Aquaman ran a hand through his beard as he began to think. "Perhaps the League will know more about him then."

"What shall we do with him in the mean time?" She asked looking out towards the screen of the still ranting lunatic

"He'll face Atlantean Justice for attacking us. Until then he can stay in the cells." Aquaman ordered as he left the room.

The man himself was chained up in the bottom of the Royal Palace , naked save for a single pair of cloth pants they had provided to him after he had been subdued. He had grey slicked back hair and sported a pair of crazed purple eyes that darted all around the room in an act that looked insane to the untrained eye.

"AND WHERE IS MY FUCKING SCYTHE?!"

* * *

"Is she going to be ok?" Itachi asked.

"Docs think so." Frank sighed with relief. "She's a stubborn old broad."

The pair looked onwards to their bedridden friend laying peacefully in the hospital bed linked up to a few machines that Itachi recognized as similar to the ones they used back at the Elemental Nations.

"That was good reflexes back there. You had training?" Frank asked.

Itachi gave no worded response instead settling for a nod that told Frank all he really needed to know.

"Well, you reacted better than me or Wallace so that's saying something at least." Frank sighed. Wallace himself had decided to wait in the other room while Paul was being looked at.

"How is Paul?"

"Just a little banged up. They should be done with him in a few." Frank sighed. His started to twist with anger and annoyance. "We need to get out of this god-forsaken city."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the statement. "It is a understandable reaction to…"

"You don't get it. It's not just tonight. Almost every other day something bad happens to us! Sometimes me and Wallace can stop it before it gets bad but other times…" He stopped to take in a breath and calm his nerves. "Sorry. I uh, just get frustrated easily."

"Is that how you lost your job?" Itachi asked trying to change the subject for ball-cap wearing man.

"Yeah. Turns out I don't have the temperament for Wayne Security." Frank replied with a strangely nostalgic smile. Itachi gave a small smile in return before picking up a particular set of footsteps outside the room. It was a busy hospital so no particular set should've stuck out but these sounded stiffer not by much but just enough to induce some hesitation as the door opened and a young blonde nurse walked in the room.

"Mr. Itachi, could you come with me please?" She asked in a polite tone. Frank looked to the nurse than back to Itachi.

"I got her. Go take care of whatever it is." Frank said. Itachi nodded and stood up. Following the woman out of the room and closing the door behind him. The pair navigated through the crowded halls rather easily but not towards any particular area a nurse might talk to someone. They passed the front desk, several doctors, and other rooms until finally they came to an empty room in Surgery.

"Just inside." she said politely but with a blink that seemed almost too robotic to be human. Itachi prepped himself for another attack should one come and walked through the door. His eyes immediately landed on the only other figure there, dressed in a long trench coat that hid most of his body except for a striking mound of bright unkept red hair. Itachi tempered his hopes. The odds of it were microscopic so….

"Do you know how long it would've taken for you to find me?" The voice said in the eerily calm tone that Itachi had only known to come from one man.

"Sasori…" Itachi started.

"Answer me Uchiha." The voice ordered.

"I'm not sure." Itachi replied quickly and honestly

"Itachi Uchiha unsure of himself…Seems I was right about you." Sasori scoffed finally turning to meet him face to face. Seeing the notoriously blank, dead eyed face of the puppeteer, Itachi wasn't really sure of what reaction to have. Sasori and him were former comrades true but the pair had barely any interaction outside their group gatherings. More so, he had never been sure where Sasori's true allegiance lied. Whether it was to the Akatuski's goal of peace, or some ulterior motive all together separate from the group. And that mystery had always made Itachi wary of the red head.

"Right about what Sasori?" Itachi asked not dropping his guard in the slightest.

"I think you know. Uchiha." Sasori replied swiftly as he took in the sight of "homeless" Itachi. "But this is neither the time nor place to discuss it."

"Agreed." Itachi added on. "Do you know what's happened to us?"

"It's simplest enough to see. We're back from the dead." Sasori dryly pointed out. "Understanding how and why however, that remains much more puzzling. As does our current location." He pulled out a device that Itachi recalled from his interrogation of the man who held him hostage, a communication device of sorts, from one of his trench coat pockets and started sliding his finger up and down it as it glowed a dim light. Sasori's passive stance didn't change but his voice spoke again newly annoyed. "Gah."

"What is it?"

"Yet another annoyance." He replied biting his lower lip. "Come. We'll discuss this further at my home."

"Home?" Itachi grew even more curious at that word.

"Did I stutter?" Sasori asked back opening a door behind him. "I never could stand hospitals."

Itachi thought back to the others waiting in the room a ways back but knew he needed answers before he did anything else. He wished them a silent farewell and followed his old associate out of the room but not before Sasori grabbed what looked like a bag off of the table. "Burger?" He asked.

Itachi's confused gaze was almost enough to make the puppeteer smile.

* * *

As the last thug dropped to the ground with a newly broken jaw, Batgirl breathed a sigh of relief. This had been way too close to call.

"You ok Batgirl?" Robin asked over to the yellow and black cloaked vigilante. Barbara gave him a thumbs up gesture as rubbed her shoulder which still burned from a crowbar impact. Surrounding her, was said crowbar and about a dozen now either unconscious or crippled goons. And those guys had just been the ones she had fought.

In total, there had been close to forty of them, all surrounding a large warehouse that stood just at the edge of the docks. The strange thing though was that there wasn't any visible thing that could've caused

"Not like you to call in back up." Huntress said standing behind the cloak of Caped Crusader who kicked open the locked door of the seaside warehouse. "What's going on?"

Batman didn't reply as he peered into the surrounding darkness. Huntress sighed and pulled out a flashlight. Flicking it on, she saw that the warehouse wasn't exactly empty. It was filled to the brim with large metal shipping containers stacked right put to ceiling.

"Jeez. Some weapons cache." Huntress sighed in slight awe.

"If it is that." Batman told her as he moved to the closest container. The lock was quickly disposed off and the pair pulled apart the container doors expecting to see some sort of familiar weaponry. Assault rifles, RPGs, something of that sort. What they didn't expect was for the container to filled with a strange white clay cubes that spilled out onto the warehouse floor. Huntress chuckled at the sight.

"Well, someone got ripped off." She said with a laugh. "Unless the guys outside expected warehouse filled with Play-Doe."

"Don't be so quick to judge." Batman scolded before activating his comm. "Gordon, I've got a Warehouse on the East end loaded with an unknown substance. Have any nearby police quarantine the area."

"You sure? What is it?" The voice of the Police Commisioner asked.

"I'll let you know when I find out." Batman replied before closing the conversation. He picked up one of the clay cubes and placed it in a bag.

"Don't think your going overboard?" Huntress asked.

"Haven't you learned by now to never ask that question?" Batgirl reasoned walking into the room with Robin at her side.

"Fair point." Huntress sighed before perking up. "So, where are the burgers?"

"Oh…About that….." Batgirl smiled sheepishly.

"For god's sake, I asked you to do one thing." Huntress seethed.

"No, you volunteered me to do one thing." Batgirl replied. "Besides, things got hectic. Met a new Meta today."

"A new one?" Robin asked. " What can he do?"

"Run on walls for one thing, and he can vanish about as well as Batman over there." Batgirl pointed out which perked the interest of the Caped Crusader. "He can also change his eyes and might be able to use psychic attacks but I'm not sure about that last one."

"You get a name out of our new mystery man?" Huntress asked.

"He said his name was Itachi."

* * *

The journey through the city went quietly save for the impact of their footsteps in the snow and without a hitch save for one instance of a group of hoodlums looking like they were gonna take their chances on the pair only for a side glance from Sasori's to change their mind. That same glance then shifted back to Itachi and caught glimpse of a slight smile that faded just as quickly as it appeared. Sasori made note of the display but decided to discuss at a later date if at all and went back to his groaning.

You see, the cold had never really bothered Itachi. True enough he had been trained to survive in almost any possible conditions the Elemental Nations could throw at him but dealing with the cold and the snow was something that he actually enjoyed. This was the complete opposite to his associate who spent the entire walk grumbling some curses under his breath and silently wishing for the snow to shape shift into the warm sand he had always preferred.

"I don't suppose you've looked at the stars since you've got here." Sasori finally muttered aloud stopping in the parking lot of an average three story unassuming building nestled nicely in the outskirts of the Gotham Downtown area and just outside the suburbs covered in the same red and green lights Itachi had seen all around Gotham. Itachi glanced up to the sky and saw the sky was still blocked with grey clouds before replying.

"Haven't had the chance. As far as I know, I just awoke a few hours ago." Itachi replied.

"A few hours…...Interesting." Sasori walked past a blacked out neon sign that looked like it would light up if given the chance with the words Beatrice Bowling. That raised several questions for Itachi. Specifically, who was Beatrice and what was Bowling? The door to the building opened with screech as it pushed away some of heavy snow.

"Hurry up. I've had enough of this cold for one night." Sasori complained as Itachi refocused. He walked past Sasori who held the door for him. He was greeted with darkness until the flick of a light switch was heard. The darkness evaporated as several hanging lights illuminated the rather large room revealing several tables that stood on atop of the purple carpet edging next to just as many lanes of wooden floor that led to the opposite end of the room. Itachi walked around getting a feel for the room itself. Several other lights littered the room that each gave off shifting shades of color and seemed to some how have some strange liquid moving inside it. Tearing itself apart and then reforming in a strange gelatinous mass he had never seen before.

"Mind the lava lamps. Damn things are hotter than they look." Sasori's voice announced as he reappeared with his coat now over his arm, along with a second pile of clothes wearing a simple long sleeve black shirt and cargo pants.

"Lava…..Lamps?"

"You know, I was hoping you would be the one who could give me answers." Sasori sighed. "Figures, I guess. Here."

Itachi took the clothes quickly and breathed a sigh of relief as he got out of the rags that had kept him warm since he had gotten here. With his back to turned to the changing Uchiha, Sasori continued. "Any memory of what happened?"

"Outside of dying again, nothing." Itachi said slipping on a simple dark blue shirt and sweat pants as well as a pair of socks. "I released Kabuto's Jutsu and that was that."

"That doesn't surprise me. You had the greatest odds of breaking out of the trance, with your little ruby eyes. Where are they anyway?" Sasori' asked seeing his associate's eyes in their regular form.

"Reserved for later." Itachi replied. Sasori smirked for a half a second.

"Ah, chakra coming back slower huh?" Sasori asked.

"Yes. Sasori, what the hell is going on here?" Itachi finally asked.

"Something that's far more confusing then comforting." Sasori said with a sigh."I myself have been pondering that question for the last two years."

"Two years?!"

Sasori nodded as he relaxed into a chair. "Strange isn't it? Tell me, is the last thing you remember of the Elemental Nations was dying as the Reanimation ran its course."

Itachi nodded.

"The same was for me." Sasori admitted. "Last thing I expected afterwards was waking up here. Not undead and fully in control of myself."

"And you never figured out how?" Itachi asked.

"Don't assume I haven't tried." Sasori shot back narrowing his gaze at the Uchiha. "But being dropped in a world you have no prior knowledge of tends to slow such things down. I couldn't assemble an army of spies or informants that I didn't have."

"Didn't?" Itachi asked. Sasori allowed himself a small smirk.

"Once my situation became fully apparent to me and my chakra began to return, I set out to gather as much information as I could gather about this world and its inhabitants. So I needed informants on every level of society."

"The nurse…" Itachi realized while giving Sasori a look of disdain.

"She's perfectly fine if you wish to know." Sasori replied, annoyed by the look. " She simply provides data on any potentially interesting residents of Gotham General. As do many other nurses and doctors in various other hospitals across Gotham."

"You haven't changed at all. ' Itachi sighed.

"You should know death rarely changes someone." Sasori said glancing at the ceiling. " After all, you were still a traitor to the Akatsuki even after you came back."

Itachi narrowed his eyes in a hateful glare towards the red head who returned it in equal measure. "That implies I was on the Akatsuki's side to begin with." Itachi admitted.

"Call it whatever you like. It doesn't change the fact that you still sided with the home that ordered you to murder your own family over us." Sasori spat clenching his one visible fist. "Tell me, if it had come to it, would you have killed all of us if Konoha said they would take you back? Kisame included?

Itachi fought down a sudden urge to attack his fellow Akatsuki member but Sasori saw Itachi's previously passive body tense up at the mention of the dead swordsman. "If it would've been for the greater good…." Itachi replied.

"Greater good." Sasori laughed harshly. "You'd get along with these Superheroes."

"I met one of them earlier tonight." Itachi said trying to change the subject. " A female who wore what looked like bat insignia."

"Yes, Batgirl." Sasori nodded taking the change. "I read about that. What did you make of her?"

"She seemed confidant, energetic, righteous…." Itachi started.

"And naïve." Sasori finished for the his compatriot. "She and the rest of her clan hold to a no killing rule."

"Her clan?"

"Count yourself lucky you met her rather than Batman." Sasori chuckled as he stepped up out of his chair and began to stretch. "But I think that will do for the night. Unless you plan on killing me."

Sasori started up the stairs. Itachi stood up having had enough of the the tone of voice, Itachi asked "If you hate me so much Sasori, why give me a place to stay? Why come find me at all?"

Itachi stopped at the middle stair and sighed yet again perhaps more at himself than Itachi. "Besides hoping you might have known why we were sent here. It's just nice to know I'm not the only one who's been condemned here." He turned back around. "Walking through hell with a snake is better than walking through hell alone."

Sasori vanished from sight and soon after the sound of a door shutting ran through the room with a THUD.

Itachi collapsed back into the chair as a huge wave of guilt ran over him. It wasn't like Sasori didn't have the right to be angry if he had been truly loyal to the Akatsuki and to top it off, he had offered him a home. He had no right to be annoyed with the man but it didn't change the fact that he was and just in case this was a trap that was yet to be sprung, Itachi would sleep with one eye open tonight. If he even slept at all.

* * *

 **Tada! I think I'll end it there. I hope this turned out ok. Sasori's always been an enigma to write for. And since he and Itachi never really interacted, I had to sort of start from scratch. Like I said though, hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **And if you could kindly leave your thoughts in the form of follows, favs, reviews, flames, or all four, I'd really appreciate it.**

 **Farewell**.


	5. Connected

Itachi woke with a start as something bounced off his head. He heard a few more bounces beside him and saw the culprit had been a small rubber ball.

"Morning." Sasori said walking past him now wearing a simple white shirt and sweatpants. Itachi grabbed the ball off the floor and looked over towards the redhead annoyed.

"Don't give me that. You're lucky I didn't just slit your throat." Sasori replied sensing the look as he moved towards the door. Itachi rubbed his eyes and groaned as he tried to fully wake himself up drowning out the sounds of conversation that Sasori seemed to be having. When he opened his eyes again, the red haired puppeteer had returned to his sight with a square cardboard box with the letters PIZZA on it which he then threw onto a nearby table. "Breakfast."

Itachi looked confused but the hunger he had quickly drowned it out. He opened the box and after inspecting the rather strange looking food took a piece. The explosion of flavor he tasted nearly threw him to the ground. "Wow."

"It doesn't look like much, but its got some flavor to it." Sasori agreed pulling a large plastic bottle filled with a dark brown liquid from the fridge. "You want a drink?"

"Water, thank you." Itachi replied before taking another bite. Sasori nodded as he poured the liquid into his cup before grabbing another and heading over to the sink. When he came back, Itachi had started on his third slice.

"Hungry eh?"

"What can I say it's good." Itachi replied finishing off another bite. "So what happens now?"

"I don't have a clue." Sasori admitted taking a seat. "I had almost given up hope on finding anyone else here. But with you here now, I'm wondering if the others are here as well."

"The rest of the Akatsuki?"

"Yes. If the both of us died yet again, It's safe to say the rest of us who were reanimated suffered the same fate."

"Even so, there's no good reason to say that they are here as well." P

"I'm aware. And even if they are, who's to say no one else came with them." Sasori said drinking the liquid that was fizzing in his cup of his. "Which if that's the case, that's going to raise no small amount of concern."

"Amongst whom?" Itachi asked leaning back into his chair.

"When you used your Tsukuyomi on the mind of that thug, what did you learn about the wider world?" Sasori asked suddenly.

"Not much. He wasn't exactly educated. Does it have to do with these Superheroes?"

"Quite a bit I'm afraid." Sasori replied shifting his eye upward. "Come with me." He ordered closing the box of pizza. Itachi followed him up the stairs and through the open door. He didn't hide yet another confused look at what lied in side it. Rows of ancient looking objects were scattered upon shelves all around the large room upon what looked like home made shelves. The shelves filled all four walls of the room save for a large window that led to a metal deck on the outside. The only other objects in the room besides that were stashed behind a waist high granite table that blocked off another door and a completely glassed up shelf of doll sized puppets.

"Mind the antiques." Sasori ordered again as he leaped over table.

"You run a shop?" Itachi asked.

"It's a living." Sasori grumbled as he reached behind a rather bland looking on the shelf right behind him. Itachi thought he heard a small clicking noise and was soon surprised when one of the shelves slid into the one beside it and another door appeared in its place. As Sasori took the boxes to through the door behind his desk Itachi walked to the newer opening. It opened to a narrow flight of stairs that went up to what Itachi guessed was the third level of the building. Once there he was greeted with multitude of lights each emitting from about twelve different screens of various size. Dozens of people would pop up onto the screens as well, talk for a bit then vanish to show presumably what each was talking about. All in all, it caused Itachi to take a step back, right into Sasori.

"A bit off putting isn't it?" Sasori asked moving pushing him aside and moving to a single chair that sat right in the middle of all the chaotic screens. "I'll admit it took a me a good time to get used too."

"What are these?"

"Televisions, computers, radios, anything and everything I could get my hands on that keeps me tuned into the world around me."

"Are all these things happening at the same time?" Itachi asked astonished at the sheer volume of what he saw as he eyes dashed from one screen to another.

"You'll find that this world isn't exactly short on anarchy." Sasori replied as he began furiously tapping on the keyboard on his laptop. "And this is just the stuff that is allowed to be viewed by the public. What the people are not allowed to see, that's where things really get interesting." Sasori said forming a rather creepy smile. Itachi moved over to see what he meant but not before his eyes lingered on yet another screen as a red blur flew past the screen. Sasori's looked to see what was keeping the Uchiha and chuckled at the sight of Itachi's seemingly growing confusion. "Ah, but first you'd like a proper schooling in the world of Superheroes?"

"That would probably the wisest choice before I do anything else." Itachi replied with a nod.

"Right." Sasori sighed. Before turning his chair towards him. "I think the best way to explain it would be starting with the big one. He's called Superman."

A new screen caught Itachi's attention as did the figure that it showed. A well muscled man with slicked back black hair, perfectly white smile, a hefty chin, and the strangest clothes Itachi had seen that accompanied a bright red cape. "So who is he?"

* * *

Clark couldn't hide a smile as he locked the door to his apartment and picked up his suitcase. What could he say, he was going home for Christmas. Was it cheesy? Oh unbelievably so, but was that never a bad thing as far as he was concerned. If anything people could stand for a little more cheese in their life. Especially the woman who greeted him at the bottom floor of the building.

"Took you long enough Smallvile."

"Hey, had to to double check everything." Clark defended as he adjusted his glasses.

"Can't risk forgetting your cowboy toothbrush huh?"

"It's a collectors item." Clark replied with a wink as he tossed his stuff into he trunk of the cab.

"You're hopeless you know that?" Lois asked not hiding a smile.

"Yep glad to see you decided to actually follow through."

"Hey, I'm a woman of my word." Lois replied. "You got the Pulitzer, and now I'm roughing it in the boonies for the holidays."

"Tell me you actually had plans." Clark said closing the trunk. Lois gave her response in a raised finger. Clark laughed and moved back over to her. "Trust me, Smallville isn't as bad of a place as you think."

"I'm not worried its going to be bad Kent. Just that it's going to be boring."

"Oh right, can't have you be bored. You might actually have to do something else besides chase after monsters or aliens fighting giant robots."

"Mock me all you want." Lois replied with a shrug. "But that's just how I am. I can't stand cheesy things like smalltown Christmases or….. you know, you."

"I know." Clark replied opening the door for her. "And that's why I'll have a good time changing your mind."

Lois looked at the door than back to Clark who just smirked down at her. She tried her best to fight a chuckle before stepping into the cab. Clark closed the door behind her and practically skipped over to his side of the taxi.

"I'm gonna have this guy run you over if you keep doing that." Lois said to him as he got in.

"Please. You love it."

* * *

" So to sum up he's easily the most powerful among them. Though he also has the biggest conscious so that could be exploitable."

"Exploitable?" Itachi asked with an edge to his voice.

"If it comes to it. Only fools fail to consider every option." Sasori clarified tilting his head seemingly amused by Itachi's hesitation. Itachi reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough I suppose."

"You seem like your under the impression that I want to cause harm to these people." Sasori replied rubbing his neck. " On the contrary, I do my best to avoid them.

"Why's that?" Itachi asked.

"Not long after I first arrive here, I had an encounter with a member of the Bat family that resides here in this city. Called himself Batman." Sasori's calm eyes briefly shifted to anger before flashing back to normal.

"What were you doing?"

"Surviving…." Sasori replied with a slight edge to his voice that implied not to question him about it further. "Long story short, if Superman is the most powerful, Batman is the most dangerous."

Itachi listened with intent as Sasori described the notoriously dark and brooding Dark Knight of Gotham.

* * *

"Isn't that kind of rude?"

"Rude?" Bruce asked blowing on his newly poured coffee.

"Well yeah, I mean you basically up and leave when their in the middle of talking to you. Doesn't' that seem rude to you?"

Bruce didn't respond instead opting to to drink as Alfred gave a small smile towards young Tim who sat at the opposite end of the table as he sipped his own cup of tea.

"True. But master Bruce has never particularly cared about the opinions of others."

Bruce turned his famous glare over towards his old friend who returned it in almost equal measure. "I changed your diapers sir, no look you give me is going to intimidate me." Bruce sighed as Alfred took off into the kitchen and Tim got himself a good laugh.

"Look, all I'm saying is maybe you could benefit from not trying to be such a hardass. At least not to the people who help you." Tim continued after calming down

"Any other advice?" Bruce asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"No, just a question." Tim replied his voice growing curious. "What happened between you and Dick?"

"Alfred, when's that meeting with the board again?" Bruce quickly asked eager to change the subject.

"About an hour sir." Alfred answered just as quickly causing Tim to huff in annoyance.

"Best we get moving then." Bruce said suddenly getting up and straightening his tie. He looked over to the still seated Tim. "And did you actually do what I asked you to do."

"Who do you think I am?" Tim asked back just as Bruce Wayne began to move towards the Manor's exit. "I checked the shipping container that had all that weird clay cubes, if I had to guess I'd say it was from Japan."

"My thoughts exactly." Bruce agreed

"So what do we do? We taking a vacation tonight?" Tim asked slightly hopeful at the idea of traveling.

"The Titans did take a mission there sometime ago." Alfred pointed out. "Shall I send them a message?"

"It's a good start." Bruce replied opening the door to the manor and walking out to a newly bought Lamborghini.

* * *

"…..That's not….."

"Get used to a lot of things being possible here." Sasori replied.

"A station in space?!"

" Correct. It even caused small alarm to these people close to a year ago." Itachi's face contorted into a small absurd smile. He wanted to laugh but really couldn't find the energy to do so. This place made absolutely no sense. "Okay. Fine. I'll buy it."

"I really don't care if you do or don't." Sasori replied as his typing continued.

"What the hell are you actually working on?" Itachi asked getting annoyed with the constant noise of the keyboard.

"Finances." Sasori replied.

"I thought you ran an Antique shop."

"I do. But that hardly would pay for all this equipment." Sasori finished. Itachi raised an eyebrow and moved so he could see exactly what his associate was doing.

"So is all that racket your causing supposed to somehow get you money?"

"One thing about this world that I throughly enjoy. Everything's connected here, and it can all be accessed if you know how." Sasori said growing a a small sinister smile. A few more taps were made before several numbers started shifting in the right hand corner of the screen.

"Impressive." Itachi replied simply.

"Glad you don't need the Sharingan to see that." Sasori replied leaning back in his chair. "This world's currency is more digital or computer based then back in the Elemental Nations but money is still money."

"Kakazu must be having a field day if he's here." Itachi remarked.

"Indeed." Sasori replied with his eyes shifting to the topic that the masked ninja's name brought up. "Which leads us back to finding out if anyone else is hear."

"And we do that how exactly?"

"Very carefully." Sasori replied before pressing a a few more buttons on his keyboard.

"Couldn't we just ask these Superheroes for help?"

"Brilliant idea. And while we're at it, let's tell them how we tried to destroy the world, how you killed your entire family, and anything Hidan ever did. I'm sure we'd hit it off." Itachi glared at him not appreciating the sarcasm as Sasori explained. "These Superheroes area too simple minded. Their world operates on a system of black and white. I'm uncertain how they will treat us if they were to know about it and I do my best to avoid uncertainties these days."

After a brief bout of thought, Itachi sighed in agreement. It would be a bad idea to get unknowns involved right now. "So we have to do it ourselves then."

"Like always." Sasori added on. "Last night, after you went to sleep I got word to all my contacts to be on the lookout for any other members of the our little group. But as you know my network isn't what it used to be so I wouldn't count on getting information quickly."

"And what am I to do until then?"

"Learn." Sasori ordered. "Properly." He turned his laptop towards the Uchiha and stood up from his chair. Itachi looked at him then back to the computer.

"Did you familiarize yourself with the computers back home?" Sasori asked pulling out a smaller device from his pocketand tapping it.

"To an extent." Itachi replied looking hesitantly at the laptop as he sat down in the chair.

"Good. You'll need it, now just tap on the G icon and we'll get started."

Itachi did so, surprised that touching the icon with his finger opened something new. "Fascinating."

"Welcome to Google." Sasori said looking over the Uchiha's shoulder to makes sure he adjusted properly.

* * *

It was a sunny if cold day in Jump City. Strange considering it was settled nicely along the California coast but nothing unheard off. Crime was down and no world ending events were currently on the horizon, so the Teen Titans found themselves goofing off in the living room of their tower. Raven was hovering quietly next to a coffee machine reading what she considered to be a very interesting book. Cyborg and Beastboy sat on their very comfortable black couch and Robin sat opposite of Raven about as engaged with his computer as Raven was with her book.

"Well thanks for letting me know, asshole." Robin grumbled under his breath as the picture of a newly minted Gotham Robin article flashed behind the screen of his computer. Really, was it too much to ask for a heads up when you knighted a new sidekick? Especially when he has the same name?

"I did not know you had a brother." Starfire said walking up to his side.

"I don't. This is a new kid." Robin replied.

"Who also calls himself Robin?"

"Yeah. Just a miscommunication. I'll talk to him and see what gives." Robin said with a sigh. Starfire looked concerned.

"Batman you mean?"

"Yeah." He replied a little too annoyed.

"He and I still don't quite get along."

"Yet we're going to see him in a few days." Starfire said putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I want to put the past behind me. Only way I can do that is to finally talk to them about it." Robin replied taking her hand in his. "You're still coming right? Tamaraan doesn't have a holiday I don't know about this time of year?"

"Oh yes! I am most looking forward to meeting your other friends in Gotham!"

"YO!" A familiar voice called out over to the pair.

"What?" Robin asked across the room over to his friend.

"So just to be clear Huntress isn't available?" Cyborg asked leaning back against the couch.

"I told you she's going out with Question." Robin replied annoyed.

"But the dude has no face!" Beastboy wined beside his mechanical friend. "How does that even work?!"

"I don't kno…..Why are you two even asking that?!" Robin exclaimed

"Dude! We're going to Gotham!" Beastboy exclaimed. "Black Canary, Huntress, Batgirl, how can you not be excited?!"

Robin resisted the urge to smack his forehead and settled for just sighing. Raven did the same as Starfire smiled at the excitement Beastboy was emitting. Just as he began to yell out a reply, a blinding white light flared across the entire tower blinding all of the Titans at once before almost instantly fading out.

"What the hell?" Cyborg asked quickly scanning the outside view with his cybernetic eye.

"Cyborg what do you see?" Robin asked readying himself for a fight.

"Are we under attack?" Starfire called out, her hands quickly adopting a light green aura.

"I don't think so. I don't see…..Wait." Cyborg zoomed further out as the vision in his other eye finally began to return. " Something just fell into the ocean."

"Titans Go!" Robin ordered

The windows all along the living room slid down as the five flew out of the tower and over the ocean. Cyborg's eyes kept itself locked on the very faint heat signature in the shape of a human as it sank deeper into the winter ocean. It wasn't moving.

"It's definitely a person. And it doesn't look like he's out for an afternoon swim." Cyborg said standing on the platform Raven had just created.

"He's not gonna last long in the water. Beastboy" Robin said as he held onto Starfire's arm. Beastboy nodded from his hawk form and quickly dove straight down into the bay shifting into a large green bear just as he impacted. A few moments later he sprung back up to the surface with the naked body of an alarmingly thin man pale as snow and just as cold laid on his back.

"Dudes! The guy is naked!"

"I can see that." Raven sighed as a black aura gripped the man's body shielding it from view save for his head. It sported pure crimson hair that draped over his eyes and partially hid a frighteningly thin face that combined with the rest of his body showed that he really wasn't in good health.

"He's barely breathing. Let's get him to the Tower." Cyborg said getting a much better scan of the man's body. "He's really going to need it."

* * *

 **A/N: And so the saga continues. Not much to say about this chapter really just that it was fun to write. Anyway,I hope you all enjoyed it and I highly encourage to leave your thoughts. Whatever they may be.**

 **Until we meet again, farewell**.


	6. Paper Angels

As Itachi aquatinted himself with this new world via internet, Sasori felt vibration of his phone hit from his pocket. He left the room swiftly after reading the collar ID. Now on the still snowy roof, Sasori answered the phone.

"Doug, I wasn't expecting your call so soon."

"Things have been heating up here boss." A clearly panicked voice replied.

"Two Face moving in on Penguin's territory already hu, any particular reason?" Sasori staring at the glistening snow.

"You know how he is. Just flipped the god damned coin of his and decided we're moving."

Sasori bit his lower lip in annoyance. Chance had always been an enemy for him. " When?"

"Tonight. Oh rumor has it Batman was as the docks last night."

"He usually makes his rounds there everyone other night. What's so special about this one?" Sasori asked.

"Because Jacob contacted me this morning. Penguin's pissed off something fierce about Gotham PD seizing a shipping container. Courtesy of the bat freak." Doug replied.

"His newest batch of weapons?"

"Not the usual stuff according to Jacob. Whatever was in this one cost four times what Pengi usually pays."

"I see." Sasori nodded understanding. "But if it's still something that minor, why'd you contact me?"

"Jacob's been found out. Pengi's planning on feeding him to that shark of his in the Iceberg Lounge right after he spills everything about you, me and the entire group."

"God damn it." Sasori gripped his phone so hard that it threatened to start cracking. "Any time in particular?"

"He said he wouldn't live to see tomorrow. What's the plan?" Doug asked.

It was simple, Jacob had become a loose end. It was time to tie him up. Sasori took his free hand and made a hand sign."Jacob has served me well…" Sasori started before his eyes widened.

" _You can't just treat people like their tools!"_ A sharp femine cry echoed into his mind. The voice vanished quickly afterwards, but the damage had been done, despite his brain's orders, his body couldn't activate a mind destruction jutsu. Sasori released a low frustrated growl before speaking back. "And he will continue to do so. I'll take care of it."

"Gotcha boss. I'll keep you informed on Two Face."

Sasori hung up shortly after. He took a deep breath and looked out over the highways going in and out of Gotham then finally to the towering sky scrapers of Gotham itself that almost seemed to sparkly under the sun.

" Damn it all." He growled. He was going to have to get directly involved for the sake of his underlings, and it annoyed him to no end. Ah well, at the very least he could use the exercise.

* * *

"No data available."

That damn statement had been repeating itself ever since Batgirl had logged into the Bat-Computer. Itachi Uchiha must've really been an enigma if Batman didn't have anything on him.

"I take it nothing of use, Ms. Gordon?" Alfred asked bring her a small tray of tea. Batgirl thanked him and nodded.

"Not a single detail. I figured he was new but I honestly thought Bruce would have something on him."

"Master Bruce likes to appear he knows everything about everyone."

"He doesn't?" Batgirl asked in mock surprise.

"Usually he does. But there are those he can overlook or hasn't had time to focus on. Do you remember that one young man he met who managed to escape him?"

"Not really." Batgirl answered trying to remember. "What'd he look like?"

"Bruce didn't get a decent picture of his face but he mentioned that his hair was one of the reddest he had ever seen." Alfred replied. "But anyway my point stands. If Master Bruce could be everywhere and know everything, he would hardly need the rest of us would he?" He finished with a smile that spread to Batgirl.

"Yeah. Fair enough." Her thoughts drifted back to Itachi. "It's just something about this guy felt different." She remembered his admission that his parents taught him how to kill. "Did we have anything on the League of Shadows recently?" Batgirl asked.

"I can ask Question and Huntress to look into them for you."

"Thanks Alfred." Batgirl replied as the elder smiled back.

"No thanks are necessary. Though I must ask you to take special care of master Drake tonight."

"Will do." Batgirl nodded. He was right. Tonight's patrol took them to the Iceberg Lounge. Not exactly a place to let your guard down.

* * *

The door to the Titan's infirmary slid open with a light hum as Robin walked in to see their new guest. Said guest was currently lying unconscious in a small comfortable custom made hospital bed as his Cyborg continued to stand over and scan his vitals as well as any other information he could decipher from the very weak red head.

"I'm surprised you're still here, I thought some trouble was brewing downtown." Cyborg said to his friend.

"Nothing unusual Star, BB, and Rae got it.." Robin replied quickly as he walked up beside him. "Anything new?"

"Nothing really. He's unconscious, weak and almost scarily thin." Cyborg said continuing to peer over his patient. "Well it is actually a little worse than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I took several X-rays of his body before hooking up to the machine. This guy's been through a lot." Cyborg replied as several pictures of the man's bone structure became visible. Robin peered through each photo before focusing on one particular one located on the spine.

"What the?" Robin said glaring at almost a dozen small black rods of metal lodged all long the man's back, just barely hidden beneath the skin, three of which looked like they were piercing the spine itself.

"Yeah. Jesus, right?" Cyborg agreed pointing to the pierced spinal points.

"Can he even walk?"

"That's another weird thing. It looks the vertebrae somehow fused with the rods. Same for the other bones all along his back. I've never seen anything like it."

"Any idea how he got them?"

" Considering how he looks, it can't have been willingly." Cyborg said as the X-rays vanished. " I'm pretty sure, I can heal him up fine but there's still that blinding light he appeared from. What's the plan here? Should we tell the League?"

"Let's talk to him before we do anything. I don't want assume anything about this guy and getting the League involved would bring a bunch of attention I don't want right now." Robin said looking over to the redhead with an unreadable expression.

"Gotcha." Cyborg replied. "I hope this guy wakes up before we go to Gotham though. I'm not leaving him alone in the tower. " Cyborg then turned back to the patient and over to his friend. "Speaking of which, are you gonna be ok going back there?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be going back." Robin answered slightly annoyed. "Look, I've put that behind me. And I'm hoping they did too."

"Great. So what happens when Star fines out?" Cyborg asked. Robin's posture stiffened as he realized hadn't really found away around that.

"I uh….I think the best thing to do would be to not tell her."

"Flawless thinking. Puts the robot in me to shame." Cyborg said giving him a false salute.

"Look, I'll deal with it ok?" Robin defended. Cyborg chuckled to his friend before slapping him on the back.

"Relax man, it's gonna be a lot easier than you think it'll be." Cyborg assured him.

"So you've had a girlfriend who cheated on you with your mentor?"

"Well, no." Cyborg replied being honest. Robin slapped his head in annoyance as Cyborg chuckled. "I meant, it's only gonna be as awkward as you make it. Just try and catch up with them and forget about it. It's what I try to do whenever I meet my folks."

"You were on bad terms?" Robin asked surprised.

"For a while. Me and dad didn't exactly see eye to eye when I decided to do the hero thing full time." Cyborg explained. "And it took us a while to actually sit down and hash it out. But we got there. Same thing will happen with you and Batman. I'm sure of it."

"It's still going to be a pain in the ass though."

"I never said it wasn't gonna be." Cyborg agreed. Both of them laughed lightly as unknown to either of them, the eyes of the man in the bed twitched ever so slightly at the mention of pain.

* * *

Itachi had just finished reading a summarized history of the United States thanks to website called Wikipedia when Sasori re entered the room.

"We're gonna have to cut your history lesson short." Sasori interjected. "We've got something to take care of."

"And what is that exactly?" Itachi asked closing the monitor and rubbing his slightly strained eyes. "Have you find out about any the others?"

"No. And if we don't hurry, someone will find out about me." Sasori replied getting Itachi's attention. " Come with me."

Itachi followed the redhead to the back end of the hi tech room and watched as he pressed his hand up to a monitor. There was a slight buzzing noise before a series of locks went off and a portion of the wall opened up to reveal a small armory containing several packs of kunai and shuriken and a no small amount of handguns.

"You've been busy." Itachi said glancing over the items and grabbing a two or three packs of ninja weaponry.

"I'll be damned before I'm unprepared." Sasori responded doing the same as well as taking a pair of small pistols. He noticed Itachi not grabbing one.

"You don't want one?"

"Won't need it." Itachi replied strapping a pack of kunai to his right arm, a pack of shuriken to his left, and a second pack of kunai to his left leg.

"You'll also need some new clothes. More when the action picks up." Sasori said throwing him the bag he had brought back into the room with him. Itachi opened up the bag revealing a very fancy looking black suit complete with matching shoes, vest and tie.

"Where exactly are we going Sasori?"

"The Iceberg Lounge." Sasori replied. "One of the strongholds for a crimelord known as the Penguin."

"The penguin…" Itachi started trying to hold back a slight chuckle.

"A stupid name certainly but he's not to be underestimated." Sasori spoke taking out a suit of his own. "But with luck we'll be in and out before he notices."

"Any particular reason for this excursion Sasori?" Itachi asked as he started to put on the suit.

"I told you, he has sensitive information. I want it back." Sasori replied simply. Itachi's eyes lingered on the red head wondering what that actually meant.

* * *

It was a blisteringly cold and snowy night in Smallville when Clark and Lois finally finally spotted his family farm.

"Is that it?" Lois asked clearly hoping to get out of the car.

"Yep, home sweet home." Clark answered.

"Finally." She sighed in relief before looking at everything that surrounded it. "Jeez. Really don't have to worry about neighbors huh?"

"What are you complaining about?" Clark asked back.

"There's nothing out here. Just fields and snow."

"Nothing like small town America." Clark agreed.

"Christ, you know what you are Clark? You're the text book definition of sappy."

"Guilty as charged." Clark once again agreed. "I bet I could give Superman a run for his money."

"Don't get your hopes up Smallvile." Lois replied pulling their rental car up to the Kent driveway. Clark winked to her as he got out and she sighed in response. This was really happening. Lois Lane was going to spend the holidays in a middle of nowhere house far from any possible excitement. Just great.

"Ma. Pa. You up there?" Clark asked up to a figure who looked like he was shoveling snow off the roof.

"Clark!" An older woman's voice rang out from the porch. Lois looked over to see a grey haired woman walk out cloaked in a light jacket. Soon enough, she was engulfed by Clark who practically lifted off the ground in a hug. "The snow didn't keep you did it?"

"No worse than usual Ma." Clark replied with a loving smile. He let her back down and looked over to Lois. "Lois, this is Martha Kent."

"Oh…Hi." She waved awkwardly to the elderly mother. Martha laughed lightly at the scene.

"Wow. So this is the famous Lois Lane." She said walking over to her. "She's quite the looker." She said causing Clark to rub the back of his head sheepishly as she greeted the famous reporter. "Maybe a bit too thin but I'm sure that's just that Metropolis fast food. We'll put a little meat on your bones before you leave dear. Don't worry." She said shaking Lois hand with a surprisingly firm grip for a woman her age. It wasn't fierce though, just energetic.

"Some food actually sounds great right now." Lois said.

"Don't worry dear. Jonathan's inside warming up some ham."

"Inside?" Lois asked thinking back up to the roof. "Then who was shoveling the snow?"

"Oh, that's right." Martha said snapping her fingers in realizations and looking back put to the roof.

"You can call it a night dear. Snow'll be there tomorrow."

Lois and Clark looked up as well trying to get a better look at the figure. "Is there a ladder or…."

She could barely finish as the figure slid down the side of the roof, flipped beautifully through the air and landed smack dab right beside Lois who nearly fell back in surprise. It turned out he was a she, garbed in a thick dark blue jacket and two pairs of jeans that were tied loosely to her waist by a belt. Nothing really that outstanding until you saw her long pure blue hair and orange eyes.

"Whoa." Clark said surprised by the display of agility. "Ma, who's this?"

"Konan." The woman replied in a cold voice before Martha could speak. "My name is Konan."

* * *

As the moon shined down clearly over Gotham, Itachi and Sasori left thier home and made thier way to their new destination. Or rather Sasori made his way thier and Itachi just followed. Leaping from building to building so as to not be slowed down by either traffic or onlookers. On one particularly high up rooftop though, the pair stopped.

"You said you hadn't gotten a chance to look at the stars yet right?" Sasori asked tilting his head up towards the sky. Itachi shook his head as he did the same. "Well thanks to the lights of this city you won't be able to get the whole picture but you should still be able to realize something." Sasori finished.

Itachi squinted towards the sky trying to get a good look past the bright moon and to the surrounding stars. What he saw or rather what he didn't see widened his eyes. Not a single star from the elemental nations was to be seen. Sure it made technical sense considering the apparent lack of anything related to their home but it was nevertheless jarring to behold.

"It took me a while to get used to that." Sasori said. "And I'm still trying to digest the idea that several of those stars are actually home to other livable planets."

Itachi's eyes widened yet again at the thought. But before he could think on it further Sasori took off back to his objective and Itachi swiftly did the same.

* * *

"So uh, where's she from?" Clark asked clearly curious about the woman who was staying in his old home.

"It's the damnedest thing. We found her out in the cold about a month ago. Naked as the day you were born and frozen half to death." Jonathan replied after chewing on small piece of cold ham. "She took a few days to heal back up, and you know how impassible the road is this time of year so we just offered her a place to stay."

"And you don't get any bad vibes from her?" Clark asked turning his head to peer back inside the house. His gaze pearled through the walls to see his mother currently chatting with Lois and Konan sitting on the couch making origami.

"No actually. She's a little quiet and can come across as cold but she's clearly been through some shit."

"What do you mean?" Clark asked.

"Well her body was littered with scars when I found her for one thing. Some pretty damn old ones too. And she can't be more than thirty five." Johnathan replied looking out to his many acres of empty snow covered land. "And uh, I don't think she's shown you yet but she's real good with paper."

"She's a meta?"

"I'm no expert on that so don't ask me." Johnathan replied. "Look all can say is she's good hearted. She's been helping around the farm since she's been on her feet. And you know hew this place can be in Winter. It's been nice to have extra pair of hands here again."

"Well, as long as she' ok. Though I was worried you were gonna replace mom."

"You know that's not a bad idea…" Johnathan

"I heard that." A voice replied from inside the house. Clark and Johnathan laughed while Lois and Martha shared a chuckle of their own.

Konan for her part looked at the two conversing women and thought back to the friends she had lost who now seemed to be gone forever.

" _We'll always be together Konan." Yahiko said wrapping his arm around her neck lovingly._

 _"It's a promise." An equally young Nagato with purple spiraled eyes agreed._

Time however would prove to make that promise impossible to keep. One by one her friends left this world before she too left the world of the shinobi for what was supposed to have been forever. Really the last thing she expected was wake up cold and naked in the snow. Where she was or how she got there were questions she could barely comprehend. She was fairly certain she had been killed. She tried her best to stop Madara but her best wasn't enough. She accepted that as he crushed her throat and resigned herself to her fate with the hope that the blonde that had renewed her hope as well as Nagato's would find a way to beat him. What she could comprehend however was the care that these two elders gave her. A warm room, food, a bed, some clothes. All of which they had given freely. It had been far too long since she had experienced such kindness and felt a need to try and repay it for as long as she would stay here.

Wherever here was anyway.

"Hot chocolate?" A voice asked bringing Konan back to the present. Konan looked over to see the black haired woman who had just arrived at the farm. She looked at the red mug that the woman held before reaching for it.

"Thank you." She said swiftly almost devoid from all emotion save for a small hint of nostalgia in her voice that Lois's reporter ears picked up on.

"I didn't interrupt something did I?" Lois said sitting down beside her. Konan didn't reply instead focusing back to the snow that continued to fall from the behind the window.

"I guess I did huh?" Lois said with a light chuckle. "Sorry about that."

"It's perfectly fine." Konan replied. "Just….remembering some friends is all."

"Ah. An activity tailor made for this time of year." Johnathan said entering the living room with his son. "I usually think of a few friends I've lost over the years as well."

"You and me both." Martha spoke up. "Remember the Fitsgivens? From before Clark was born?"

"Damn right I do." Johnathan replied. "Gone way before their time. What about you son?"

"I usually think back to Dan." Clark said growing a nostalgic smile. "You remember him Lois?"

"He wasn't exactly the forgettable type." Lois agreed remembering the outspoken man who had been murdered tragically by Darkseid years ago. " Then again, It's hard to forget the people who've left a mark on you." Lois continued. The other four in the room nodded in agreement.

"Oh, Konan dear, could you show them that trick you do?" Martha asked eager to change the subject before everyone got too down.. Konan nodded and looked over to the perfectly folded origami crane that sat on the table. Seconds later, it's paper wings began to flap and it's head bobbed up and down as it flew into the air and began circling all around them. Lois and Clark looked shocked by the display while Martha and Johnathan looked on for what must've been the hundredth time in awe.

"My teacher taught me about origami when I was little. He called these types of birds, paper angels." Konan said once again thinking about someone she had lost as a small river of guilt flooded through her. Lois looked like she noticed it but decided to keep that information to herself as the five of them decided it was time for supper.

* * *

 **Well I think I'll call it a chapter here. I know that last line by Konan wasn't really cannon but I don't think it's that far fetched to believe Jiraiya would say something like that. As always let me know what you thought of it. Good or bad, leave a review and let me know.**

 **See** **ya guys later**.


	7. A Group Like That

Itachi wasn't really sure what to expect following Sasori who kept the same look of detachment on his face he had always shown. He seemed his usual calm emotionless self but something else was there now. A strange sort of spark that was barely visible in his eyes. It wasn't panic. Or at least he didn't think it was, it was too subdued. Curiosity? No that didn't fit. There was as still a speck of alarm in there. Whatever it was, it was surprisingly human. That was probably why it seemed so off putting. His body wasn't that of an unfeeling puppet anymore. He could actually portray human emotion now without his voice.

The pair stopped on rooftop that sat comfortably across a very busy street from a large, ten story tall building littered with bright flashing neon signs in the form of women as well as pure golden letters that spelling out the words Iceberg Lounge proudly on the front of the building.

"Not very subtle is he?"

"Subtlety is a lost art in this world if you ask me." Sasori replied looking down at the frankly obscene amount of cars that seemed to be trying to get into the Lounge's parking area. His eyes followed a couple of wealthy townspeople exit their vehicle then walked off towards a small line of other similarly well off people who all looked to be chatting comfortably in their warm fur coats and jackets as they waited to be served. Itachi's eyes focused more on a few key figures at the entrance. All slightly taller and each wearing matching tuxedos that seemed far too tight around their large frames.

"Security."

"The ones he wants us to see anyway. It's a good signal to outside players that he's not to be messed with." Sasori said.

"Like we're about to do?"

"Exactly." Sasori replied, his eyes darting up and down the outside of the building taking in any obvious structural weaknesses that could be exploited if it came to it. "The Lounge is part casino, part show, and part restaurant. But it also houses a majority of Penguin's criminal dealings. Illegal arms, money laundering, private vault. He keeps most of it here."

"So how's this going to work then?" Itachi asked surveying their surroundings as well.

"My contact gave me a detailed list of several of those caches which are located in specially marked, hidden rooms. You'll cause a distraction that will lock all those down and send security that way. If this all goes south, anyway." Itachi answered.

"So what's the regular plan then?"

"Blend in." Sasori replied handing him a wallet. Itachi took it and saw a picture of himself on a card marked driver's license and several cards each with rows of numbers. It also contained a fair amount of green paper bills that were this place's currency. "You'll act as my security and have the time of your life while I search for my contact."

"Kenta Tokugawa?" Itachi asked raising an eyebrow as he read the name off the driver's license.

"That's right Kenta and from here on out it's Mr. Kobayashi." Sasori replied gesturing to his own wallet. "Oh and take this." Itachi caught a small white dot in his hand. "Place it in your ear. Thank of it as a small headset. Simply press and hold on it and I'll be able to hear you.

"Understood." Kenta said with a nod placing the dot in his ear. "So we just jump in line and wait?"

"What's the one thing I made sure you all knew about me when we met?" Kobayashi asked slightly annoyed at the question.

Kenta could've laughed as he remembered. "Right. You hate waiting." At least somethings never changed. The pair leapt quietly down to the alley below before crossing the street.

* * *

As the cold crisp air hit both their faces, Batgirl had to admit, Tim was taking to this like a natural. He didn't have a background in gymnastics like Dick. Or a basic knowledge of fighting like her dad had taught her. And he certainly didn't have decades of travel that had gifted Bruce with his skills. Yet in the past few days, and even since he had figured who they all were, he had picked up everything involved with this type of life, exceptionally well. Especially the detective work, which to her mind was going to be just as good as Batman's if not better one day.

"Wohoooo!" He screamed with a smile plastered to his face. As the grapple line pulled him to a nearby roof top. Once there he flipped through air and landed in a roll atop the grey cement. Batgirl followed just as quickly though perhaps with a little less enthusiasm.

"Wohoo? Really?"

"What?" Tim asked back blinking behind his white eye mask. "How do you and Batman not enjoy this?"

"Because we have jobs to do." Batgirl replied with a stern gesture over over the building that would be their prime sight for the night. "Cobblepot's guys are usually up to something around the holidays."

"Sure, but I've going over his gang's patterns for a while." Tim replied gazing towards the building than back to Batgirl. "Nothing's really new in the past few weeks."

"Except that warehouse shipment." Barbara corrected.

"Well…Yeah. There was that." Tim replied scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Look, hopefully you're right and this I'll be uneventful. But always be prepared for this to go wrong fast."

"Gotcha boss." Tim replied with such a lack of sarcasm that she nearly did a double take. Looks like rebellion wasn't really a thing she had to expect from him and for that she was thankful.

Just as she turned away to stare at the line of people who were waiting to get inside the infamous Lounge, by almost pure coincidence, she spotted a pair of men just outside the line standing near the entrance talking to a security guard. One of those men though, was the very same meta she had met at the restaurant.

"See something?" Tim asked looking in her direction.

"Remember that guy I told you about?" Batgirl asked.

"Red eyes? Yeah, you see him?" Tim asked.

"Yep." Batgirl replied as the security guard bowed his head and let him as well as the redhead with him inside the Lounge.

* * *

"Calling it a night Pop?" Clark asked as his father started after his mother whose shadow had just disappeared up the stairs.

"Yeah, it's getting a bit harder to keep the eyes open." Johnathan replied rubbing his eyes hazel pupils. "I'll leave the house to you until I get back up."

"Sure thing." Clark replied with a nod as Johnathan's hand grasped his shoulder.

"Glad to have you home son. You and Lois." Johnathan said with a wink to his son who simply smiled back and hugged him.

When Clark came back to the living room, he fought back a sigh as Lois sat there pen and notebook in hand writing down whatever Konan answered her questions. Konan, for her part looked confused by the effort and speed with which Lois was chronicling her answers but didn't think too much of it.

"So, you didn't get your powers in an accident?" Lois asked.

"Accident?" Konan asked surprised by the question.

"You know, struck by lightning? Or maybe you got a radioactive paper cut?"Clark had himself a good laugh as Lois turned over to him. "What? Don't act like it couldn't happen."

"No." Konan replied shaking her head. "Nothing like that. I simply trained."

"Training huh?" Lois asked. "What type exactly?"

"Endurance, chakra manipulation, mediation. It was pretty all encompassing."

"Chakra manipulation?" Lois repeated back with a raised eyebrow as her pen darted across her notebook. That was certainly a new one.

"Yes. Though, I'm not sure if that means anything too you." Konan replied. "The Kents didn't seem to have any knowledge of the Elemental Nations or what goes on in them."

Once again Lois's pen dashed across her paper as Clark leaned forward to listen, his interest piqued.

"Elemental Nations?" Clark asked. "Is that where your from?"

"Yes." She replied. "I was a shinobi from Amegakure before….." Her voice suddenly stopped as Lois and especially Clark each noticed a glint of pain return to her eyes. Konan rubbed her neck as her body began to tense up.

"Hey, it's ok." Lois said dropping her pen and reaching over to wrap her hand around Konan's hand. "We can stop now if you're not feeling up to it." Konan didn't reply with words instead settling for a swift nod and sigh of relief as she got up and walked out onto the back porch. Lois looked over to Clark concerned as Clark did the same. "She's definitely been through something."

"Yeah." Clark said with a small nod as he looked out towards the back door with a look of pity. "Amegakure? Any idea what that is?"

"Not a clue. If I had to guess, it's probably Asian but like I said. Just a guess." Lois replied just in time for a yawn to make it's way from her mouth. Much to Clark's amusement. "Don't you say a word." Lois cut him off before he could start.

"What?" Clark asked keeping his smile.

"You're gonna say something cheesy about me being tired and right now I don't want to hit you." Lois glaring at him. Clark allowed himself another laugh as Lois sighed. "Well I'm gonna call it a night. You?"

"I'll stay up a little longer." Clark replied. "You taking the guest room?"

"Konan's got that. I'm taking yours." Lois said.

"Mine?"

"Why thanks for offering." Lois replied with a wink as she moved to the same stairs that his parents had disappeared up to. Clark could do little but sigh as she vanished and the sound of a door shutting came to his ears. After making a quick trip to fridge then the sink, he walked outside.

"You want a drink?" Clark asked as he sat down beside her in a separate rocking chair.

"I'm adequate." She replied shaking her head. Clark nodded and took a sip from a poured glass of water before settling into the rocking motions that the chair allowed. For a while, they just sat in silence. Taking in the snow covered fields that still shined under the moonlight and the cold crisp air that flew around them with every occasional breeze. It was serene. The very definition of calm.

"She wanted you to follow." Konan suddenly said just as Clark took another drink which nearly went spewing from his mouth. The sound of coughing soon followed.

"Wha…What?" He asked covering his mouth trying to calm himself.

"Your friend, Lois. She wanted you to follow her up to your room." Clark didn't really know how to respond other than taking in the fact that Konan could hear better than most. He didn't have to however, as Konan's lips formed a small smile. "It seems you men are just as oblivious here as you are back home."

"Speaking of which." Clark said, eager to get on a different subject. "I'd uh like to talk to you about it."

"Do you think your League would know where home is?" Konan asked as she finally turned her head to face him. Clark eyes widened and his words caught his throat. Konan was tempted to laugh at the sight. "Don't act so surprised. It doesn't take a genius to see you and the Superman from the TV look exactly the same. The glasses don't do much to distract." Konan said gesturing to the spectacles that sat across his nose.

Clark took off his glasses and looked at them before chuckling. "You'd be surprised. They can actually fool most people."

"Perhaps I'm a bit more perceptive than most." Konan admitted. "But getting back to the point. Your League, would you be willing to help?"

"That's kind of what we do." Clark said putting his glasses back on. "Though I have to correct you on something. It's not my League."

"You are supposedly their most powerful member, as well as the one who created it if the TV is to be believed. Why would it not be yours?"

Clark didn't respond at first. It was an honest question and she wasn't the first to ask it but nevertheless he always tried to give a different reason for his thinking that also held just as true as the others. "Because I thought I didn't need anyone else." Clark replied looking back up to the sky. "I'm not sure what you've seen on my parents TV, but for the longest time I worked on my own. I was the strongest person I knew so I thought working with anyone else would just get them hurt or worse in the long run."

Konan didn't give any physical gesture but she understood the reasoning.

"Then, one day. There was a threat that I just couldn't stop on my own. No single hero could." Konan's eyes noticed a subtle shift in Clark's eyes as he thought back to what she could only guess was a pretty disturbing memory. "We had to work together. And in doing so, we saved the planet." Clark's eyes fell back to her as she wondered what an achievement like that must've looked like. "That taught me, more than anything else, we're only as strong as our comrades. And that belief is a core part of the League. I can't take credit for it anymore than they can. It's not my League. It's not their League. It's just the League."

Konan's own gaze shifted away from his and soon it was his turn to notice a subtle change her gaze, one that indicated she was thinking back to a memory herself.

"Were you part of a group like that?"

"In a way." Konan finished with a strange tone that Clark couldn't really nail down. Sadness? Regret? Anger? All three? It was up in the air and he could do little but wonder which one it actually was or if it was something different altogether.

* * *

The energy in the Iceberg Lounge would've given a nuclear reactor a run for its money. The entire place was buzzing with hundreds of people talking, laughing, gambling, dancing, crying, it was a city unto itself and a sight Itachi had honestly never seen. He had never been much of a gambler himself and had learned that those who favor casinos often end up losing rather than gaining. Sasori however was very much proving his teachings wrong.

"Raise five thousand." Kobayashi said giving his signature blank face to the only person at the table who still held a hand of cards as he slid tossed a few chips from his pile onto the table. Said man looked to be an unassuming business man who was more than likely here to spend his weekly earnings. The man grinned clearly thinking the redhead was bluffing and tossed in the matching amount before shoving his entire entire collection of chips towards the center of the table.

"All in."

The pot now stood at a very hefty three hundred sixty eight thousand as the both former players and onlookers gathered around the table to see which of the two men would come out on top. Kobayashi nodded slightly at the increase, looked down towards his hand and did the same signaling to Kenta to move his chips in as well. Four hundred sixty eight thousand.

As if on que, the man struggled to hold back a laugh as he threw down his cards. A diamond straight of five, six, seven, eight, and nine. A decent hand to say the least. Kobayashi did the same keeping his emotionless face contrasting that of his opponents as sequence of clubs came into everyone's view. Ten, Jack, queen, king, ace. The poor man's face faltered as he realized what just happened. His skin paled, his eyes darting back and forth from his hand to Kobayashi's just the crowd around them murmured to themselves, impressed at the man's luck or skill. Kenta himself had to give him credit. He never would've taken the redhead for a fan of poker.

"Good match." He said standing up. "Kenta." Kenta nodded and gathered the pile of chips as the crowd dispersed.

"I see why they let you right in." Kenta said putting the chips into a case.

"How do you think I first made money?" Kobayashi asked back as the pair started their journey to the main desk of the Casino.

"A lot of money, if the reactions from outside were to be believed." Itachi replied remembering how they skipped the line outside and figuring that took more than just money. "So you know Penguin himself?"

"Oswald Cobblepot. Get any laughs out now before he meets you." Sasori replied just as a smile spread across Itachi's face.

"Cobblepot." He allowed himself a snicker at the name before becoming stoic. " The names just keep getting stranger."

"Get used to it." Sasori whispered coming to a woman who sat behind a sealed of counter. "Cash these please."

"The night's still young Kobayashi." A new distinct voice rang out from behind the pair. The pair turned to see a rather odd looking man dressed in a very aristocratic black and white waistcoat and matching pants. Topped off with a large black hat that sat above a bald head and decently scared face sporting a monocle in his right eye. "Retiring already?"

"Mr. Cobblepot." Kobayashi replied giving the man a small bow of respect. Kenta did the same glancing at the man as well as his two large equally well dressed bodyguards who stood comfortably behind him. " I wasn't aware you were available. Good night so far?"

"Very good." Penguin replied with a grin that showed of a set of almost pure white teeth save for a single gold tooth that seemed to sparkle. " People are happy. People are spending. And even a few are winning." Penguin gestured to the case of chips that Kenta held. "You haven't lost your edge at the table."

"A skill learned is hard to unlearn." Kobayashi replied. "A fairly successful night all things consi…."

"Perhaps you'd like to sit at the big boy's table." Penguin interrupted. Kobayashi and Kenta shared a quick look before replying.

"If there's a seat available." Kobayashi started as Penguin's smile grew.

"Splendid." Penguin replied clasping his hands together. " Just follow…" He stopped as he finally noticed the man next to him. "Well, you've brought some company."

"Mr. Cobblepot. My associate Kenta Tokugawa, ex Yakuza."

"Really?" Penguin eyes scanned over him taking in his size, muscle mass and overall demeanor. "The Yakuza are some crazy bastards. You got someone out for your blood?"

"No more than usual." Kobayashi replied quickly and injecting a bit of humor into his voice. Cobblepot laughed.

"Quite. Quite. Well you know the rules, he stays here and enjoys himself."

"Sir…." Kenta began.

"Kobayashi will be taken care of. I assure you." Penguin interrupted as a tone of annoyance entered his voice. "Unless that's a problem of course."

Kobayashi turned to his companion and shook his head. Kenta nodded at the action and took a step back. "Lead on. Mr. Cobblepot." Kobayashi replied.

"Excellent. Right this way" He said flipping around and walking out of sight as his two guards escorted him and Kobayashi. Once they were gone from his sight, he decided to head to the bar for a quick drink before proceeding any further. He took a seat at the counter and called out the bartender.

"Sake."

"Sorry guy. I just clocked out. Other guy will be here in a sec." The frankly exhausted lady replied rubbing her eyes and disappearing behind a door. Itachi nodded and spun around in his chair to look at all the people who darted across the floor in either happiness or agony. Those were really the only two emotions you could find in abundance in a casino if you asked him. When the door opened back up, Itachi opened his mouth to repeat the request. He was beaten to it.

"Sake right?" A gruff annoyed voice asked.

"Yes." Itachi's tilted his head at the slightly familiar voice. Maybe he heard it wrong. Not a second later. The sound of glass breaking just a few feet away caught his and the bartender's attention. One man who clearly felt wronged held the other by his shirt up against the wall.

"You peace of shit!"

"Dude, what the hell?!"

"You think you can just walk right in and hit on my wife?!"

"I-I was just making some conversation…."

"Conversation?!" The aggressor yelled pulling his arm back.

"God damn it." The voice behind Itachi growled. The next thing Itachi knew a fist plowed into the aggressor's cheek. Two things separated it from a regular punch however. First, it held enough power to knock the man off his feet and sent him flying across the room narrowly missing a small group of people who had gathered to watch the fight. Second, the fist that had hit the poor bastard was attacked to an arm that had extended out of the man behind him via purple threads.

"Lounge policy. No goddam fights on the Casino floor." The bartender growled out over to the crowd as his arm slithered back across the air and into his sleeve at an unnerving speed. Paying no mind to their confused gazes, he simply moved to prepare Kenta's drink. "Assholes, don't pay me enough for this."

There really was no doubt who the man was now. Kenta turned to finally get a picture of him. He was tall and instantly gave of a dangerous aura to anyone who saw his frame. Draped in a grey button up short sleeved shirt and black slacks, it strangely matched the face of its owner who sported long, rough looking brown hair that stretched down to the back his neck. The man's mouth and chin were blocked from view by a black mask but seeing his green-white eyes made it plain as day who he was. At least to anyone who knew him.

"Right, one Sake." The bartender said placing the full shot glass right next to Kenta seemingly not noticing who he was. He then went about cleaning the various glasses that sat on the table behind him with grace and efficiency that gave the impression that he'd been doing this for awhile.

"Actually, I'll take two." Kenta said.

"Someone's feeling lucky tonight." The bartender said dropping his rag and grabbing the Sake bottle once again.

"Another glass too." Kenta continued.

"Oh, someone so special that he doesn't drink from the same glass twice huh?" The bartender asked with a sarcastic tone of respect. " You know, your type of people really piss me off."

"Just what didn't piss you off Kakazu?" Kenta asked just in time for the bartender to turn around and face him. The bartender froze at the name, save for the eyes that took in the sight of what was supposed to be a long dead Uchiha staring right back at him. And right there, for the first time in his life, a small genuine smile started to form behind his mask.

"You…." He place the Sake bottle on the table at risk of it slipping from his hand. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Afraid not." Kenta replied extending his hand across the counter. Kakazu wasted no time accepting it with a vigor Kenta had never seen before.

"Itachi, you goddam bastard." Kakazu chuckled. "Some asshole really screwed up if they forgot to send you to hell." Itachi smiled pulling back his hand as Kakazu did the same. "Just what hell are you doing here?"

"Working with Sasori." Itachi whispered to Kakazu. The ex-bounty hunter's eyes widened.

"The redhead's here too?" Kakazu asked surprised.

"Just went off with Penguin." Itachi said. "Something about the "big kids table"."

"Shit." Kakazu said impressed. "Looks like Sasori's been making some good money."

"I'm surprised you and he haven't noticed each other." Itachi replied. " He seems to come here more often than not."

"This is a new job." Kakazu clarified rubbing his neck. "I just got to Gotham yesterday. Took some time off."

"Time off?" Itachi asked.

"I'll explain later." Kakazu said as couple sat down a few seats away and gestured over to him.

"Bartender. Two champagnes." The new arrival said as Kakazu moved over to them. As Itachi put pinger to his ear.

"Kakazu's here. Bartender."

"Got it." Came muffled whisper in reply through the device. "Ask about contact. Jacob."

* * *

 **Calling a chapter here. As always I hope you enjoyed it but even if you didn't, don't hesitate to leave a review regardless. Thanks again, and see you guys later.**


	8. Awake

"You've got something to say Kobayashi?" Penguin asked looking across the table. Kobayashi turned his eyes away from his hand of cards to look at the crimelord.

"Just thinking aloud Mr. Cobblepot. Nothing interesting. Raise two hundred k." The redhead said tossing in several more chips into the pile.

"Bullshit." A deep voice growled out. A large man, maybe seven feet who sat across Kobayashi leaned forward revealing the a rough, ragged brown shirt, yellow eyes, and dark green scaled skin of a reptile or more specifically a crocodile. "No jackass here mutters something without it having a purpose."

"Really, what's that say about you Croc?" Another voice asked. His wasn't as deep as Croc's but it held a veiled back annoyance that Sasori picked up on. The man was just as tall as Croc but lacked the scaled up skin that made him famous. Instead, long thin tubes ran along the man's well toned arms towards a container that sat strapped to his back. "You go on and on about how well a man's stomach tastes. Where's the purpose in that?"

"Intimidation." Croc growled.

"Oh, then you've been doing a shit job of it." The man replied coldly smiling back at the set of teeth. An air of hatred began to fill the room as the two giants continued their stare down, seemingly waiting for the other to blink. Just as Penguin was about to step in, Kobayashi spoke.

"Gentlemen, If Mr. Cobblepot invited you to this room it stands to reason he views you as upstanding individuals. People who can look past their differences and come together for a quiet game. Do you really want to prove him wrong?" Kobayashi asked returning his eyes to his cards. He could feel their stares turn back to him.

"And what if I don't care?" Croc asked with a low growl.

"Well, what else are you actually gonna do to pass the time that doesn't involve, eating, killing or fighting giant bats?." Kobayashi reasoned. His eyes drifted from Croc back to Bane, as each began to ponder the question rather than merely brush it off. Bane tilted his head slightly and gave a low chuckle and Croc scratched the bag of his head and allowed himself a disillusioned laugh.

"Yeah. I guess you have a point there." Croc replied picking his cards back up off the table.

"Fair enough." Bane said with a short nod. "A quite night every once in a while works."

"Very good gentlemen." Penguin said with a loud laugh and a nod to Kobayashi's direction. Kobayashi returned the gesture before moving to scratch his ear yet again.

* * *

A swell of people came up to the bar after Kakuzu finished serving the couple. As he went on continuing his job, Itachi decided to pass the time with a few slot machines using a bit of the money Sasori had given him. Nothing really came of it. Closest he got was a pair of sevens and cherry. But he didn't leave disappointed, he took note of several figures moving about the Lounge floor. They'd stop by someone at the desk, whisper something, disappear off the floor, come back and talk to someone else. The usual stuff, Itachi was sure that a criminally run casino staff would do. Or any casino staff for that matter. It was subtle too. No one else in the casino seemed to take notice it. Not the visible guards, none of the patrons, nobody really. Save for him and Kakuzu. An hour might've passed before Itachi moved back to the bar. Not content to sit and chat out in the open, Kakuzu allowed him behind the bar door and to a small, rustic lounge.

"Any luck on those machines?" Kakuzu asked poring himself something from the bartender's private stash.

Itachi shook his head. "No more than usual."

"Yeah, luck was always a pain in the ass back home." Kakuzu agreed poring a second glass. He turned back to Itachi who had quietly made his way to a leather chair. Itachi took it with a polite thank you. "Mind you, we're pretty damn lucky to be here and not hell."

"How can you be sure it isn't?" Itachi asked back with a smile.

"I'm still being paid." Kakuzu said with a smile under his mask. "Quite handsomely as a matter of fact."

"And demons can't be paid in hell?" Itachi asked

"The minute I read somewhere that demons are paid for their work, then I'll buy it." Kakuzu said gulping down the strange liquid. Itachi did the same, expecting a Sake like flavor. Instead he was greeted with a powerful, hot taste that seemed to burn as it slid down his throat. He kept his composure though, finishing the glass before looking back to Kakuzu.

"That's a…new one." Itachi said with a sigh.

"Whiskey. I've gotten a taste for it." Kakuzu said with a shrug of the shoulders. "You might be more of wine guy. Pretty face and all."

"So, you're bartending now?" Itachi asked raising an eyebrow to his masked comrade.

"Why's that so surprising?" Kakuzu asked back flatly cleaning his shot glass with a few quick wipes of the towel still kept in his pocket . "It pays pretty good if you do it for the right people."

Itachi couldn't argue with that. Kakuzu had always made himself pretty easy to read. Maybe he figured it would be less annoying if people could get who he was in a sentence or two. Whatever the case, Kakuzu was a pretty simple guy. He loved money and…well that was just about it. Maybe being an asshole was a close second but even that it was a stretch. That simplicity had an odd charm to it. He never tried to hide who he was or what he thought. A rather honest characteristic for men in their position or former professions.

"That being said, I do have other jobs. This is more a hobby than anything else." Kakuzu continued placing the glass on the counter.

"Such as?"

"Stories for later." Kakuzu replied. "What's up with you and Sasori? Planning to rob Cobblepot?"

"In a way." Itachi nodded. "Penguin captured an informant of his."

"Informant, bastard's still up to his old tricks huh?" Kakuzu said with annoyed sigh though still wielding a smile. "Can't say I'm much different. Who's he looking for?"

"A man named Jacob. Sasori seems to think he'll be fed to a shark."

Kakuzu's smile faded somewhat with another sigh. " Goddamn. Jacob's really screwed then. Brutus in the basement."

"You know the shark's name?"

"That's just what the boys call him." Kakuzu replied. "Though don't get your hopes up. It's not Kisame."

"I didn't think it would be." Itachi said standing back up. "So where's the stairs?"

"There's one right here." Kakuzu said pointing over to a small corner of the room. "False fire exit."

"Good." Was Itachi short reply taking steps towards the door.

"Slow down." Kakuzu ordered. " What exactly is the plan here Uchiha? Just waltz right down and nab your boy?"

Itachi looked at his compatriot like he had grown a second head. "Yes." It seemed pretty self explanatory.

" Ok, I'm not sure you've noticed but this world has some pretty powerful weapons. They'll put holes in you faster than you put them through your clan."

A wave of anger swept through Uchiha for a brief moment as he felt the urge remove three of the bounty hunter's hearts right then and there but Kakuzu continued.

"It's not just down the stairs. It's then down more stairs to a long hallway armed to the teeth with armed guards with high tech cameras, lasers, motion sensors, and a few other things that'll make even your movements easier to track. sneak in if you can just walk in. Hell, maybe even get next to your guy."

Well that reply raised several questions. How did Kakuzu know exactly what to expect if he had just gotten to Gotham today, among others. But those would best be saved for later.

"What do you have in mind?" Itachi asked.

"C'mon. Think back to the academy days." Kakuzu with a light chuckle, cracking his knuckles.

The answer came to Itachi instantly and a small smile grew across his face.

* * *

Beastboy woke with a start as the sound of thunder rang through his room and all over the Tower. He hated when this happened. He could sleep in the rain just fine but the second a loud bang hit it was gone. He was wide awake and it was almost too much of a chore to go back to sleep. He looked over to his clock. Nine forty-five. He'd been asleep for maybe an hour. Another crash of thunder rang out and he looked out his window to see the dark clouds and rain drops loudly tapping on the glass. Yep, he wouldn't be able to sleep through this.

Leaving his room in a plain white sleeveless shirt and boxers he began the journey to the kitchen for a nerve easing snack. As the door to the Tower's hub opened up though, he was greeted by a familiar face with dark purple hair. Problem was, neither had stopped moving until it was too late.

"Ouch! What the hell?" Beastboy growled out clutching his forehead.

"Damn it, Beastboy!" Raven seethed doing the same through gritted teeth. The pair stood their in mutual annoyed pain until it finally began to fade. "What the hell are you doing up?"

"I just asked you that." Beastboy replied still rubbing his emerald skin. "I thought you liked storms, you know with your matching personalities and all."

"Haha. Jackass." Raven grumbled putting her hand back down to her side. Taking that as a challenge Beastboy quickly turned into a donkey and grinned at her before switching back.

"Guilty as charged."

"Look, I just wanted a drink to sleep on. All right?" Raven said still annoyed at her friend's antics. "What's your excuse?"

"Same. Though I was hoping for some….food." Beastboy hesitated for a split second as he thought he heard something. Raven took notice.

"What?" She asked confused by the action. Beastboy's relief was evident. It must've just been the rain if Raven hadn't sensed anything.

"Nothing." He replied focusing back on her. It was here he noticed that Raven wasn't exactly wearing her usual attire. Gone was her usual leotard and cape, instead she wore a simple blue top and surprisingly, a pair of comfortable looking grey shorts that made her look far too relaxed.

"Wow, so you do change clothes."

"Eyes up here, Garfield." She said slightly amused by the words. "It's not like you're wearing the same stuff."

"What? I can't stay in the uniform twenty four seven. Even I have standards." He said crossing his arms. "Mind you, I don't think I pull it off as good as you."

"Smooth, Gar. Smooth as silk." Raven said walking past him and patting him on his shoulder. "Someone will fall for that…..eventually." Beastboy thought about shouting another compliment out to her but decided against it. He was probably pushing his luck as it was.

Now in the kitchen, he pulled the door open to the fridge. His eyes flying from shelf to shelf looking for something, anything to eat and hopefully ease himself back to sleep. Cyborg had suggested some pills but Beastboy just didn't particularly care for them. He'd take them when he was sick, sure. But not to sleep. Not finding anything of value in the fridge, he settled for a carton of milk. He closed the fridge just in time to see a bright display of lightning flash across the tower's windows illuminating the entire living room and kitchen….as well as a figure who stood almost motionless facing out to the rain.

Beastboy's guard shot up immediately, silently placing the carton of milk on the counter beside the fridge. After that, he made no movement at all, his eyes staring towards the figure in the living room. Still no movement. Maybe he hadn't noticed him.

"I did not mean to frighten you." The figure said weakly. Beastboy allowed himself a sigh of relief. He could still be an enemy but very few enemies he knew would greet him that way.

"You didn't frighten me, dude. I was just startled is all. Big difference."

"Of course." The figure replied with the same weak tone. Beastboy then remembered they had another person with them. Someone who should've still been in the infirmary.

"Hey uh you ok?" Beastboy asked walking slowly over to him, still not really knowing what to expect. The man didn't reply. With an annoyed groan, Beastboy kept moving until he stood right next to the man. Another flash of lightning and he got a better look at him, what he saw was shocking. He was still thin, obviously though the clothes Cyborg gave him painted a better picture than just being naked. His hair was blood red, so that was still the same. No the thing that floored Beastboy was the man's eyes. Orbs of shining purple that practically glowed in the dark as they stared out towards the stormy sea that surrounded the tower. It was a brief glance but that glance spoke volumes to him. They held a power to them that he'd never seen before but there was also a strong sadness to it. So much so that, the two seemed to constantly be at war with each other.

"You uh….like the rain?" Beastboy asked. He slapped himself at the question. Honestly, what did that even mean?!

"I do." The man replied with the thunder of the lightning flash accompanying his words. Ok, the storm really didn't help this guys appearance. He looked more and more like a bad guy with each thunder strike. "I grew up with it. Yourself?"

"I like the rain, sure. But storms, they're a bit annoying."

"Can't sleep?" The man asked, turning his gaze towards the titan for the first time growing twice as intimidating. Beastboy didn't his best to fight that feeling back down and replied.

"Yeah…" For one reason or another, he felt like he couldn't lie with those eyes on him so he kept his answer short and simple.

"I see. My sympathies." The man replied blinking for the first time since they started talking. "You have a name?"

"Beastboy. You?" He asked hesitantly raising his hand out towards him

"Nagato." He replied extending his hand out towards the green one, growing a small friendly smile that did wonders to put Beastboy at ease. They shook and Beastboy felt a million times better.

"So, Nagato. Any clue what happened to you?"

"Not in the slightest." He smiled back. "I hope I didn't cause you any trouble."

"Nah dude. It's just another day for us." Beastboy said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Though dude, I have to ask, what's up with your eyes?"

Nagato's smile faded as he raised two fingers towards his right eye, caressing the skin around his eye lashes, as if they were battle scars rather than eyes. His smile returned, though weaker than before."It's a long, complicated story."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere. At least not with this rain anyway." Beastboy said gesturing back out towards the storm. Nagato's gaze shifted back to the window.

"If the weather is bothering you that much…." The redhead clasped his hands together and the intensity returned to his eyes two fold. "Release."

Beastboy's entire body tensed up as he felt an invisible energy wave the likes of which he never felt before exploded from Nagato and rushed outwards. Not a moment later, the consistent taps of rain drops began to fade until it everything had fallen silent.

"No freaking way." Beastboy said in awe. "Did you just stop a storm?"

Nagato settled for a small nod as Beastboy opened a window to get a better look. The bay was thankfully still illuminated by Jump city and he could look up and see what was once a vast swath of black clouds disappear or move on revealing a dark blue sea of sky illuminated by a few patches of stars.

"Holy shit. Thunder and Lightning got nothing on….Nagato?" Beastboy turned around just in time to see the red head start to wobble. He gave another small smile before losing balance completely. Beastboy caught him just before he could hit the ground. "Dude, you okay?!"

"I'm uh…hehe. I guess I'm weaker than I thought." Nagato said as blinking several times trying to stave of unconsciousness.

"It's cool man, I'll get you back to your room." Beastboy said frustrated with himself. This guy was still in no shape to move around and yet he just let him do…..whatever he did. Nagato gave a smile of thanks before fainting completely, appearing almost as lifeless as he had been when they first pulled him out of the water. Beastboy wasted no time, transforming into a green gorilla and moving swiftly out of the hub and back to the infirmary.

* * *

"My respect, Mr. Kobayashi." Bane said impressed with the results of their card game. It had been a one sided massacre but at the same time, it was nice to just sit down and relax every once in a while.

"You as well. Bane. Give my regards to Batman next time you see him." Sasori replied bowing in the mercenary direction. Bane accepted the gesture and turned towards Cobblepot

" Penguin." Bane tilted his head towards the Lounge's owner in a form of goodbye before making his way towards the exit. Croc did the same grumbling about his lost money though he took a more discreet exit, disappearing out of through the many hidden exits Penguin had created for his lounge.

"I'm impressed Kobayashi. You have a knack for getting along with psychopaths." Cobblepot said twirling his signature umbrella.

The redhead couldn't really correct him on that point, settling for a simple shrug. "It comes with the territory I guess."

"That it does. That it does." Penguin said nodding and glancing at the chips that Kobayashi had just gained from a very competitive game. "I don't suppose you'd mind paying a simple fee for the chance to play at this table."

"Not at all." Kobayashi said swiftly. "How much would be adequate?"

Before Penguin could reply, a knock on the door alerted both of them.

"What?" Penguin called out annoyed. The door opened revealing a pair of muscular men in fancy tuxedoes.

"Sir, K wants to see you in the basement." One of them said

"Does that bartender think he can order me to….." Penguin started.

"He's captured Batman sir." The other replied.

Kobayashi could practically feel Penguin's frustration disappear at those words as did his interest in any of Kobayashi's money. He himself had to contain a confused eyebrow raise. "Wha….what?" Penguin asked in disbelief.

"It's true sir. Me and Gus saw him down stairs. K's insisting on a raise."

"If that sorry excuse for a bartender actually caught Batman, than maybe we'll talk. Go back down there and make sure neither of them move. I trust you can find your way out Kobayashi." Penguin started.

"Of course sir, though if I may, could I join you? I've always wanted to see this Batman with my own eyes."

Penguin stopped himself and turned back towards the redhead, his eyes once again drifting to the chips. "Perhaps we could come to sort of arrangement."

* * *

The snow had once again started to fall. And the newly minted Robin had to admit, the costume didn't really do much to help keep warm. He'd have to work on that later. Maybe even add a layer of fur under the cloth.

"You're sure you saw him?!" Batgirl's voice rang out through Tim's comlink.

"Yeah it was him. Cowl, suit and all." Tim replied perched atop a nearby building that offered a perfect view of the Lounge.

"But he's supposed to be off with the League right now." Batgirl continued.

"I know. It's got me confused too." Tim replied. "It was weird though. I didn't hear a struggle or anything. And if he was that close why didn't he call for help?"

"Because he's a stubborn bastard!" Batgirl yelled back. " But call Alfred to double check. If that isn't actually him, then we have to assume the worst."

"Which is?"

"That some dumbass thought dressing up like Batman made you Batman." Batgirl said with a sigh. "And somehow gave you enough strength to fight a crime syndicate.

* * *

The Basement of the Iceberg Lounge really was more a warehouse than a basement. Several elevators and stairways led up and around to different rooms each containing boxes of weapons, drugs, and who knew what else. It was guarded by a force of fifty to seventy five armed guards who stayed in the room the entire time as well as two dozen others stationed outside any of the possible exits. Penguin only let his best men guard this spot. Cold hearted killers who didn't scare easy. But even they had to rub their eyes when Batman was brought in by a masked bartender tied up with rope and seemingly unconscious.

"How'd you get him?" One voice called out.

"I was out on break and saw him hanging around one of the surrounding buildings." Kakuzu replied growing annoyed with all the looks of attention. "Problem?"

"No one just catches Batman like that." Another one answered.

"None of you maybe." Kakuzu replied tossing the hero up against the wall.. "Thankfully I'm not like the rest of you."

"Mr. K." Penguin called out. Kakuzu looked up to see the notorious crime lord practically skipping down the stairs next to a familiar looking redhead. The two shared a glance but outside that took no notice of the other. "I was told you were working for me strictly as a bartender."

"I am. Think of this as a little bonus job." Kakuzu replied kicking Batman for a show of emphasis. Penguin scoffed reaching the last of the stairs and walking over to him.

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"I figured you wanted that honor." Kakuzu replied. Penguin's eyes scanned over Batman's body kneeling down and sneering the Knight himself.

"Where's his belt?" He asked.

"With me." Kakuzu replied crossing his arms. "I took it as a portion payment. I'm still waiting on the rest."

"You'll get your pay. I assure you. If this is actually him." Penguin said, still looking over the unconscious warrior. He looked the same height, same frame of body, but he needed to hear him speak before anything else.

"You're lucky K. Bane left not thirty minutes ago. If he knew you were here…." Penguin's own chuckle cut him off.

"Good. Call Pablo Escobane back and we'll settle this right now." Kakuzu shot back with an added edge and a swift crack of the neck.

"On your own time K. Not mine." Penguin replied snapping his fingers. "Boys take him Brutus. We'll set him up for dinner with the rat."

A pair of armed men, sprung into action. Grabbing Batman and dragging him off towards one of the several doors littering the large room. Penguin turned his back to Kakuzu. "You can go back to your work. You'll be called for your payment soon enough."

Kakuzu nodded, moving back towards the stairs.

"I think that'll be it for me as well sir." Kobayashi said with a light bow. "I don't have the stomach for these sorts of things."

"Of course Kobayashi." Penguin said accepting the move without a fuss. "Nasty business down here. Get back up and enjoy yourself. And let me know if you ever want another game."

Kobayashi nodded and walked of to the same set of stairs as Kakuzu. The pair moved in unison taking each step quickly and quietly, passing through guard after guard until they reached an elevator. With a slight ding, the door closed in front of them and they began their ascent back up through building. Neither of them looked at each other but that didn't stop them from talking.

"Kobayashi?" Kakuzu chuckled.

"It works just fine. K." Sasori replied. "Pablo Escobane?"

"What? Bane's Hispanic, made sense."

"How long have you been here?"

"A few years." Kakuzu admitted with a shrug. "I've been keeping busy."

"It certainly appears so." Sasori sighed. "Though you having run ins with other mercenaries was inevitable if you kept to your profession. But I suppose that doesn't matter now."

"Not at the moment. Right now, let's find a way to cut the power. That'll give Itachi all he needs." Kakuzu replied as the elevator dinged yet again stopping at the casino floor.

"So he'll find us?" Sasori asked.

"I'll have some transportation ready in about thirty minutes. He knows to meet us outside the Lounge when it goes down. In the meantime, you want a drink?"

Sasori raised an eyebrow at his masked friend but nevertheless followed him back to the bar. "You seem much more relaxed then you were back home."

"I don't see why I shouldn't be. Money's constantly flowing in. I get to kill people who annoy me. And best of all…." He had a short pause that allowed him a happy breath of relief. "A certain religious bastard is nowhere to be seen."

* * *

 **A/N: I think I'll call it a chapter here. As always I hoped you enjoy it and hope to hear you're feedback, whether good or bad. Thanks.**

 **See you guys next time, where the action starts to pick up.**


	9. A Wild Night at the Lounge

Getting a call from Aquaman was always a surprise. Usually more bad than good but a surprise all the same. Despite being a member of the League he still mostly kept to himself, rarely showing up at all in the last few years. Perhaps the League's growing transparency with the U.S government made him feel threatened. Either way, Batman really had no right to judge him. He couldn't exactly call himself a people person.

"What do you think he wants?" Wonder Woman asked setting the Javelin down onto a custom made Atlantean landing pad.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good." Batman replied stepping out of the Javelin and onto the Atlantean architecture. Wonder Woman followed suit accompanied but a small squad of Atlantean guards who escorted them to the palace. It was still a sight to behold if he were still being honest with himself. A brilliant mix of classical architecture and futuristic technology that made the Atlanteans feared and respected both throughout the ancient world and the mondern. They found the king himself sitting on his throne staring down at the newcomers with an ever present look of annoyance.

"Took you long enough to get here." The king snapped at the surface dwellers.

"Sorry, busy day." Wonder Woman replied, not appreciating the tone. She and Arthur never did get a long so that was the nicest reply he was gonna get from her and he knew it so he turned his attention to Batman.

"What is it Arthur?" He asked in his usual grim tone.

"I'm hoping you can tell me." Aquaman replied motioning for the to follow as he walked away from his throne and left the throne room all together. Their journey didn't take long and after a flight of stairs and several hallways, they arrived at a large room filled with Atlantean guards and scientists seemingly going over some rather fascinating data as their perplexed looks were from the papers they held and not towards the other heroes. The trio moved passed them quickly and came to a glassed off area of the room, guarded by a squad of about ten heavily armored Atlantean guards who stood facing the glass at all times. One of the guards turned to his king and gave a small bow.

"My lord."

"Anything new?" Aquaman asked.

"The usual." The guard replied unenthusiastically. "The surface dweller seems to have quite the vocabulary."

Bruce and Diana moved passed them to get a better look at who was the target of discussion. Inside the cell behind what was probably two or three layers of Atlantean safety glass, stood a heavily scared man clothed only in a ragged pair of black pants. His hair a joyless shade of grey and and sporting two strange purple eyes that seemed fixated on the chains that held him to the floor. His mouth was moving constantly which confused Wonder Woman.

"Is he talking to someone."

"See for yourself." Aquaman replied pressing a button in the side of the wall. Just as the man pulled on his chains in a main attempt to escape.

"GOD DAMN IT! MOTHERFUC…"

The audio cut back out as his words doubtless continued on. Wonder Woman fought off attempt to smile at the man's immaturity. "He isn't exactly charming is he?"

"Not in the slightest." Aquaman replied walking up beside her. "We found him earlier today inside an Atlantean temple. When my soldiers moved to engage, he fought them off. Shattering their bones in a feat of strength that's beyond the average surface dweller. Not quite as strong as say you or me but a fierce warrior nonetheless."

"Than why doesn't he look more bruised up?" Diana asked noticing that none of the scars the man had on his chest, or arms seemed fresh and he was half the warrior Aquaman seemed to make him out to be, she'd figured there would be fresher marks.

"He's a quick healer." Aquaman explained. "Add to that, he just sort of collapsed in the middle of our fight. My guess is he was more tired from something else rather than fighting."

"Hm. What do you think…" She turned to her compatriot who wasn't there but rather right next to the glass. "Batman?"

The caped crusader seemed to have ignored the conversation entirely, moving towards the glass that separated him from Aquaman's prisoner, glaring out towards him in the way he often did when he locked eyes with some violent punk who didn't know any better. When his eyes met Hidan's though, he didn't see anything that resembled just a punk. He wasn't scared, angry sure, but not scared. Not in the slightest. Hidan's outbursts quieted down when he took notice of Batman's glare and took issue with it.

"See something you like, jackass?" Hidan yelled out towards the dark didn't respond, surprising no one but sending Hidan into another annoyed frenzy. "You're just asking for it. I'm not good enough for you to talk to or something?"

Batman remained his typical stoic self taking note of the man's rather animalistic movements. Not that they resembled any animal in particular, but in just but in how erratic they were. His paces, his pulling on the chains, his blinking even. Their was just something off about all of it and it gave him the impression that this man wasn't quite human.

"Ohh, the silent treatment. New's flash jackass, all that does is piss me off more!" Hidan yelled out, spitting across his prison cell. Splashing right on the glass where Batman's face was. Once again not getting a rise out of him, Hidan's eyes peaked over to the woman who accompanied him. He quickly laughed at the sight of her garb.

"I think that one's for you." Aquaman said over to Diana. A slight twitch of her eye displayed her annoyance. "Can he hear us?"

"Now he can." Aquaman replied pressing another button. Wonder Woman moved towards the glass.

"Who are you?" She asked. Hidan, surprised by the voices, replied immediately.

"Who the fuck are you?" He asked right back. " Did the blonde bastard decide to give me some company or something?"

Diana's eyes narrowed in annoyance, but she continued. "No. We're trying to help you. Just tell us who you are and we can….."

"Who the fuck am I?!" He yelled out pulling his chains once again. "Bitch, I'm Hidan! Now let me out of here!"

Diana sighed and clenched her fist. Did the man not realize who they were or where he was? Or was he just an asshole? A gut feeling told her both.

"You attacked Atlantis. Nearly killed my men. "Aquaman called out to the Jashinist. "You're not going anywhere."

"Oh, the blonde bastard speaks at last!" Hidan turning his gaze towards the king. "Well, listen to me harpoon hand, you can take your shitty guards and shove them up your ass! It's gonna feel like candy compared to what I'm gonna do to you when I get out of here."

Aquaman's only reply was a sigh before a twisted smile stretched across the prisoner's face.

"Or maybe I could have a nice chat with the redhead you were with….."

That got a reaction. Arthur's eyes narrowed and a rather dark scowl took over his face. "I've heard enough." He growled out. "Open it."

"Arthur….." Diana placed a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him

"No one threatens my family, Diana." Aquaman replied brushing it away. "No one."

The glass slid open and Hidan let out a laugh as Arthur marched in. "C'mon! Let's just see you try that aga- Gah!

A particularly strong punch smashed into Hidan's mouth, knocking him to the ground and putting him out like a light.

"Learn to shut him up." Aquaman staring down at the now prone Hidan.

"Brilliant. Except now he can't talk to us." Batman told him coldly as Aquaman moved back towards them.

"Look, you got a good enough impression of him." Aquaman defended. "So he ring any bells or not?"

"I can put his name in the data base and see what pops up. But I don't recognize him." Diana said crossing her arms.

"And more importantly, he didn't recognize us." Batman replied.

"What are you getting at?" She asked.

"Despite his hostile nature, his body language suggested he was confused. We may be dealing with an accidental teleportation."

"Accidentally teleporting into Atlantis? That doesn't sound like a bit of a stretch to you?" Wonder Woman asked raising an eyebrow.

"What is anymore?" Batman asked right back to the Amazon. She had to give him that. "The point is, I don't' think he was sent here to kill Arthur or anyone else….."

"Batman?" The familiar voice of the Wayne butler rang through his cowl.

"What is it?" Bruce asked back.

As Alfred explained the situation, Wonder Woman noticed a few drops of crimson dripping down from Aquaman's only hand.

"Hit him too hard?" She asked over to him.

He looked down towards the cut and brushed it off. "Must've just caught it on a tooth of his."

"Batgirl and Robin seem to be under the impression that you've been taken hostage by one of Penguin's goons."

"What?" Batman asked right back.

* * *

As Jacob sat quietly in the bathroom handcuffed to a pipe of a newly refurbished sink, h began to wonder where exactly he was on the grief ladder right now. He couldn't exactly be angry, Penguin hadn't exactly kept his hatred for rats a secret. Panic? No that came and went when they first found him out. Acceptance? Well he still didn't want to die, let alone get eaten by a shark so that was a no. Bargaining, might work. He had talked himself out of bad situations before, so there was still hope on some end that he could come to some sort of arrangement with one of his captors. One of which was a medium sized man who he had never gotten along with and the other a big bastard who knew to keep his mouth shut and follow orders...Maybe he could do it.

"Hey…." He started

"Shut it rat." The smaller replied with annoyed edge.

"You know, my dad was a stock broker." Jacob continued.

"Jesus, Jacob. Can't you just spend your last minutes in respectful silence? This point you're just begging for him to hit you." The big guard said.

"I'm about to be fed to a shark!" Jacob yelled back. "God forbid, I try to weasel some way out of it."

"Then you shouldn't have been a rat." The other guard replied turning around to stare at him. "Or at the very least, told Cobblepot who you're working for. It might've been a bit quicker."

"Thanks Jerry, I could always count on you to be a Wayne tower sized prick."

Before Jerry could do anything to respond to the insult, a door opened up revealing another gun toting henchmen.

"Jerry, you gotta see this."

"What?"

"Cobblepot's caught the Batman."

Jerry's eyes widened to dinner plates and a smile the likes of which Jacob had never seen appeared.

"You're serious?"

"Hell yeah!" The new guy replied practically beaming. "He's taking him to Brutus right now. Let's go see who he is before he's fish food."

Jerry bolted out of that room faster that Jacob had ever seen. Pushing past the new guy who quickly followed suit. Leaving the door wide open and leaving Jacob alone with just one guard.

"You not going Wallace?" Jacob asked to his big former associate hoping he would follow Jerry out of the room.

Wallace sighed. "Jacob, you know Cobblepot will have my ass if I leave you here."

"Yeah, but we played poker together. Surely you'd be fine with…." Jacob stopped when he saw Wallace slowly shake his head.

"C'mon man. I'm not risking my life and paycheck for you. If I actually thought you had some cash on ya we could talk but like you said, we played poker together."

Jacob's hope faded with those words and he drooped his head. He had to get stuck with one of the few not so asshole-ish people in Penguin's gang. Figures. Was that acceptance now? Was he finally on that one? He pulled the cuffs against the pipe, trying desperately to somehow will himself super strength. No, he'd stick with bargaining right up until it killed him.

* * *

"Gather round boys. Gather round." Penguin called out to his encoming soldiers. Twenty to thirty now came into the big empty room each one looking like Christmas had come early. "We've got ourselves a Batman."

Batman himself now sat up against a the outer wall of a large pool of salt water his hands cuffed behind him and still sporting his signature cape and cowl. His eyes were shut and his heart rate low telling everyone there that the beating he must've gotten from K, had been a brutal one. Whispers of disbelief rumbled through the crowd. That couldn't actually be him could it? The mythical Batamn, caught and unconscious just waiting to be killed.

"I know that a few of you are surprised. And hell I'll level with you, so am I." Penguin called out to a wave of minor laughs. "Batman himself, sitting here like a damned daisy just waiting to be plucked. I won't be pissed if you want to rub your eyes." He picked pointed to the unconscious knight. " But here me now boys. It's true! And I think we're all owed a little vengeance against the freak!"

A chorus of loud "yeahs" and approving yells rang out from the group giving Penguin all he needed to walk towards Batman without any hesitation in his step. "And I'm sure you all know Brutus here has quite the appetite when it comes to freaks." Penguin laughed clapping his hand on the pool's outer wall. He sneered towards the fifteen foot Tiger shark inside who swam inside eying the prey that sat outside. With another snarl of pleasure, he bent down to a knee. "But first, let's just see who the bastard was that caused us so much trouble!"

His hand stretched out towards the legendary cowl that held the identity of his enemy for so many years. He could feel sweat drip down the side of his head, eagerly waiting to see the bastard's face. It was almost too good to be true.

Which naturally, meant that it wasn't.

The second his hand touched the cowl, The white slits that covered Batman's eyes vanished. Revealing a pair of blood red orbs that peered right into Cobblepot's soul. Not a second later, Batman exploded in a fantastic showing of white smoke filling the room. Within moments, the sounds of Cobblepot's agonized screams filled the room and his thugs began to draw their guns.

Then the lights went out.

* * *

"Since the nineteen eighties?" Sasori asked towards his masked associate, he placed his newly empty shot glass on a nearby table. Kakazu's hand pulled back from the assortment of switches in a box labeled "POWER".

"Yeah pretty much. Nineteen eighty five I think." He sighed.

Sasori curled a finger under his chin. "And you never looked for any of us?"

"I did at first. Just sort of gave up after a while." Kakazu explained. "Not exactly profitable to waste money on finding people you're not sure ended up in the same place."

Sasori tilted his head in understanding. Kakazu had always prioritized money over anything else. The bounty hunter sighed yet again looking around the room Sasori himself had been in just a few moments ago. "I never understood why you'd put the power box in your private room. I'd look in a broom closet somewhere and have people watching it twenty four seven."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. "Strange you never opened an enterprise yourself, I haven't been here as long as you, but I know there's plenty of money to be made in a variety of things."

Kakazu rubbed the back of his neck with a shrug. "I tried a few times, here and there. But things never seemed to work out."

A door creaked open a few feet away from them and Sasori's eyes narrowed.

"Maldito Penguino….." Grumbled a large, familiar looking man whom he had just played cards with. Bane's eyes immediately locked on to the two other occupants in the room. Especially the one he hadn't seen previous. "K….."

Kakazu's eyes didn't narrow like Sasori's but they did harden like they had countless times before he'd engaged in a fight. "Bane, long time no see. How's the arm?"

"Oh, still laughing about that are you?" Bane growled out. His calm demeanor from earlier now completely gone. "I've got something you can laugh about." Bane's hands drifted towards his neck.

"Bane, perhaps we can come to an understanding." Sasori said putting up his hand to try and calm the mercenary.

"Shut your mouth Kobayashi!" Bane yelled touching something on the back of his neck. "This is personal."

Bane's already enormous frame begin to increase, his muscles and veins growing so much against his skin Sasori thought for a moment it might peel off. But it didn't and they kept growing and growing until he stood at three times the frame he had been, now dwarfing the pair of them by a a considerable amount.

"You're gonna pay for Juarez." Bane groaned, his bloodshot eyes not fully focused on Kakazu.

" Juarez?" Kakazu asked back smiling under his mask and cracking his knuckles. "What about Istanbul or Hong Kong?"

Bane roar of rage followed and he charged towards his prey only to find his prey not backing down in the slightest. Sasori for his part wisely leaped out of the way before the pair clashed and made a beeline for the door. He slammed it behind him just in time to block the poker table from flying into him.

Sasori sighed as the sounds from behind the door only increased. He needed to get out of here.

"Transportation in thirty minutes. Couldn't have said what car it was or anything useful could?" He thought as he made his way back out towards the casino floor. With any luck, that brawl would be over quickly and Kakazu could come out and join him as they wait for Itachi. Everything could still go off without a hitch.

Then the lights went out through the entire Lounge.

* * *

"Yeah it wasn't him." Tim explained over to Barbara. "He's in Atlantis right now."

"Great, which means some jackass dressed as Batman just got…." Her words stopped in her throat as the every neon sign and light that covered the Lounge faded to darkness and murmurs of confusion from the crowd below made their way to her ears.

"Well, that can't be good." Tim said walking up next to her. The pair shared a nod and leapt off the side, intent on figuring out what's going on. Unfortunately their investigation was cut short when two men came crashing through the Lounge building and onto the street beside them narrowly missing a few parked cars. Batgirl's eyes widened when she recognized one of them as the man who had broken Batman's back years ago. She pulled Tim away from that man and a little closer to the other who had crashed just beside a small Cadillac. She was almost certain he was dead until he heard a groan of… mild annoyance? The man picked himself back up and stared at the pair that he now towered over.

"Watch it kids." Kakazu warned before facing his foe who also stood up a few feet away. Bane roared and picked up a large limousine over his head, launching towards them. Kakazu charged and leapt to meet it in the air smashing into the limo with his full body and causing it to explode in a spectacular showing of orange and red.

"What's with that guy?" Robin asked.

"No idea." Batgirl admitted. Perhaps it was some new hero she just hadn't heard of yet but something about the man told her other wise. "He could be from the League."

"No, I mean he's the guy who took in the Batman lookalike." Robin yelled back. Batgirl looked back to the fight with renewed confusion. Why was Bane fighting him then? Was it a pride thing? A contract? Either way, the new seemed to be a match for Bane so that freed them up to get back inside and search for the Batman lookalike. One look at all the escaping patrons of the Lounge through the main entrance told them they'd be better off going through the hole Bane had made.

* * *

Itachi almost pitied the poor fools. He didn't know who this Batman was but they must've instilled a great amount of fear into their souls. Almost everyone one of them screamed at the top of their lungs once the lights went out and muttered about Batman's history of breaking their bones and spirits. That's where the almost came in. They really should've found different professions if Batman consistently achieves victory.

"FIND HIM! FIND THE BASTARD!" One particular voice rang out. "He broke my freakin' hand!"

Why was it crime bosses always cried the loudest when hurt? Doesn't really set a good example. But maybe that's just him.

One particular bullet whizzed by echoing through the rafters on impact and bringing Itachi back to reality. Right, time to get take them out. With his Sharingan piercing through the darkness, he grabbed a handful each of shuriken and kunai just as a few of the smarter men below finally pulled out some flashlights.

Just as the first powered on, it's owner fell to the ground crying in pain. A kunai knife embedded in his chest right above his heart. The action set off a hail of bullets up towards the rafters and Itachi took it as time to test his agility. Dancing through the gun fire as if he were the dark knight himself, Itachi leapt from rafter to rafter. Throwing down a kunai or shurikan every chance he got and each one finding its mark in his enemy's chest. One by one each man fell to the ground crying in pain before falling silent save for breathing.

"You're gonna want to be careful with those by the way." He thought back to an exchange of words he had with Sasori. "I had them specially coated in a paralyzing agent. Slightest cut and you're done for at least a twenty four hours. Though I'm sure that doesn't matter to you."

It was a welcomed add on. He could afford to be less lethal and just as effective. Three more shurikan glided through the air and found their targets. That made twenty by now. He was making good time, but he couldn't see Jacob anywhere. A part of him wondered if they were too late, so he looked back to the shark pool and saw Brutus still swimming around, very eager for something meaty to fall into his hunting grounds.

 _"The thing about sharks is, you can always tell when they've eaten by how skittish they are. The more excited, the more hungry. Always remember that if you go swimming_."

He'd really have to thank Kisame for that little speck of knowledge if he ever saw him again. With a nod of farewell to the still hungry Brutus, he leapt down to the ground and swiftly began to cut his way through the rest of the thugs in his way.

* * *

Once the lights had gone out, Wallace had immediately pulled out a flashlight and put it against Jacob's face as if he were Batman.

"Jesus Wallace, I'm still here!" Jacob yelled out annoyed.

Wallace after a sigh pulled away and put the light up against the door. "Sorry, can't too careful." He pointed his shotgun up towards the door, dropping the flashlight just as the sounds of gunfire and running footsteps could be heard just a few feet beyond it. A few more seconds of that chaos and then silence save for a single pair of footsteps that stopped just outside the door. It creaked open at first worrying both Jacob and Wallace as to who it was before Wallace glimpsed a familiar pair of red eyes.

"Itachi?" Wallace asked. Itachi blinked in surprise at the sight of the man he had met yesterday.

"Wallace, good to see you." He said giving the man a small smile that seemed far more creepy then it was meant to with the light on the ground still illuminating it. He slipped a pair of sharp blades back into a pack strapped to his leg.

"What the hell's going on?" Wallace asked lowering his gun slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing him."Itachi pointed to Jacob. Wallace turned to his captive who just shook his head signaling he didn't know what was going on.

"Paul and Frank went looking for you after you vanished. Glad to see you're ok." Wallace said with a laugh.

"You too. Now let's go." Itachi said walking past him and towards the chained up Jacob.

"C'mon dude, exactly how are you going to get these things off….." Jacob's voice slowed to a stop with a quickl slash from Itachi's kunai went right through the cuffs. Jacob's eyes blazed back and forth from the cuffs to Itachi. "Who are you again?"

"You're ticket out of here. Wallace, let's get to the roof." Itachi ordered. Wallace had himself a laugh.

"Itachi, c'mon I can't just let you leave with this rat right?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the idea of some actual loyalty to Cobblepot and decided to test it."I know a man who will pay thrice what penguin is."

His test proved him right.

"Let's go." Wallace replied moving past the two. "Cobblepot's got an elevator for private guests of his just down the hall."

"So just to be clear, you don't believe I could've paid you, but this red eyed ninja barges in and you buy it?" Jacob asked following behind Wallace as Itachi covered the rear.

"What? I had dinner with him. Big difference from poker." Wallace explained sneaking a few looks back down the way Itachi had come and seeing what he guessed was probably about a dozen prone bodies. "Exactly what do you do again Itachi?" He asked. Itachi shrugged his shoulders as if to say "a lot of things". The three arrived at a small elevator at the end of the hallway. With the press of a button the doors lid open and the trio stepped in.

"So exactly what's on the roof?" Jacob asked still not entirely sure if this situation was real or if he had just fallen asleep back in the room.

"I'm not entirely sure." Itachi admitted. "My friend mentioned something called a helicopter."

Wallace and Jacob looked over to eachother each with questions burning through thier minds before sighing in unison.

* * *

 **A/N: So, yeah. This one took a bit longer than I thought it would to get out. Sorry about that, the next one shouldn't be as long. But hopefully you've liked this one all the same and I can't wait to read your thoughts.**

 **See ya later.**


	10. Breakout

Wallace liked to think he could roll with the punches pretty well. He'd plan things out sure, but when and if those plans went haywire or something else came up, he always prided himself as being a good adapter. Itachi, though. He really had no clue on how to adapt to him.

"So, any particular reason you're saving Jacob here?" He asked as the three rode the elevator up.

"My associate is his contact." Itachi explained. "He would like to remain in the shadows."

"Ok but couldn't you have just killed him if you wanted to keep that a secret?" Wallace pointed out.

"I could have, yes." Itachi replied simply. "But I don't enjoy it and if there's a way around it I usually take it if I can. And since my associate didn't specify if he wanted him dead, he's not dead."

"I'm still right here, you know." Jacob sighed. Still hoping he could make it out of here somehow. An awkward silence grew before Wallace spoke again.

"So, uh….how much money does this associate actually pay?" Wallace asked scratching the back of his head nervously. " After this, I'm gonna need a new job."

"Plenty. Plus he's always looking for more people. I'll put in a good word for you." Itachi said. "And once we're back at the hideout, we'll go find Paul, Janice, and Frank. I'm sure he can get them some work work."

Wallace's eyes went wide for a split second before returning to normal. He couldn't hold back a smile. "Wow, thanks man."

Itachi's only reply came in the form of a nod before a light came up inside the elevator followed by a slight beep.

"Ok we're here." Wallace started as the doors began to slide open.. "The helipad's just above us on the ro…."

He is words were cut off by a massive scaled hand tearing through the elevator door grabbing and grabbing by the neck. Itachi's hands immediately shot to his kunai pouch as second massive hand grabbed him by his skull slowing the movement considerably.

"So, here I am, wondering why the power went out and here comes three suspicious looking assholes right out of Cobblepot's private elevator." Croc growled out lifting the two men off the ground before throwing them out of the elevator and into the Lounge's sky room. A large room walled off with crystal clear glass windows that peered down at Gotham. While Wallace flew through the air and splashed right onto an empty steel table. Itachi twisted himself around and landed right on his feet. Inwardly cursing his lack of foresight for extra security.

"Well now, look at you all graceful and shit. What are you some sort of ballerina?" Croc laughed at Itachi. He looked down to his arm where a pair of kunai had imbedded themselves. He chuckled as he pulled out the knives and slid his tongue across the blades. "Hmm. A little spicy but that's not gonna do much against me ballerina." The knifes fell to the ground and a sick grin stretched across Croc's face. He turned around to the only other person in the elevator. "Take one step out of that elevator, and Brutus will be lucky to get you're bones."

Needless to say, Jacob didn't move a muscle.

With that settled, Croc turned back to Itachi who had taken the time to size up his foe. He was fast for his height and expectedly strong. Seemingly immune to poison, and tough skinned since the Kunai didn't seem to do much more than give him a cut. This was gonna be simple.

Itachi stashed his remaining kunai in his pouch and straightened himself up as Croc charged to finish the job. Quicker than Croc's eyes could see, he went through several hand-signs.

"Katon..." He began right as Croc made contact.

* * *

Hidan had to admit. The blonde bastard hit just like Kakazu did. Fast and with a whole lot of force. He was pretty sure he had bruised a cheek bone now from it but he didn't really care. He was used to that type of pain by now.

Contrary to public opinion, Hidan wasn't an idiot….well at least, not all the time. Sure he had a tendency to get caught up in the moment and not think things through. But that didn't make him an idiot. Right? He could think things through if he wanted to. Make plans, strategize. He could do it, he just didn't like it. It wasn't fun. Now, just losing it in a blood rage and coming back as you stand alone amongst a field of bloodied bodies. That was fun. And that's what he knew he'd be doing for all eternity. If not in life, then in Jashin's realm. That was the deal after all. That was the exchange he had been offered by the Jashin's followers. A life time of death and sacrifices in exchange for immortality. And he accepted it immediately.

But as his body lied buried at the bottom of a deep hole, blasted to pieces by that Nara bastard. For the first time in his life, he wasn't sure that's what was going to happen. He had no way of knowing how much time had passed in that darkness but at some point, choking on dirt and rock, his faith began to waiver. Jashin had promised him an eternity of carnage but now he was here. Broken, and powerless to get out of this situation. He couldn't move, he couldn't scream, he couldn't curse, he couldn't breath, he couldn't kill. He couldn't die. And that….that terrified him.

And so time passed. Days, weeks, months, years, he had no way of knowing. All he did know was that with each passing moment he could feel his body deteriorating more and more despite none of it being attached to him. The worst were the worms that began to crawl through his head. Eating every piece of him, slowly. Inching their way through his skull. And that tore it. His mental anguish finally took it's toll and he cursed Jashin. Kakazu had been right all along. And he had been too blind to see it. So now he was doomed to rot below the ground for all eternity until nothing of him remained, he cursed anything and everything throughout the world. Jashin, Konoha, Suna, Ame, the cyclops, the Nara, the smoker, the akatsuki. None were spared. And only after he thought of everyone in his life and cursed them, did something finally happen.

All the pressure, all the rock and dirt that had covered and choked him were gone. Vanished in an instant. And he could suddenly feel again. His neck, his arms, his legs, his feet, toes, torso, heart, fingers. All of them were attached again and each ached with a ferocity he had never felt before. His breaths were the worst. Each one felt like a hot iron ramming through his chest. But with his lungs once again attached and working, he couldn't help himself. He struggled through every inch of that pain until it finally began to subside and he could try to peace together where he was. The worm infested dirt and rubble that had sat below him was gone, replaced with what felt like cold marble that felt almost heavenly.

Was this it? Did the immortal, finally die? He needed to know for sure. He strained to open his eyes and was thankful by the lack of light he saw. The darkness was thick but not all encompassing. He could make out pillars and columns illuminated but a few strategically placed torches that illuminated wherever he was. Biting down on his tongue till it bled to try and block out the pain and to appreciate the sweet sweet taste of his own blood, he willed himself up to a sitting position.

"So, heaven or hell?" He thought to himself as he scanned the area around him. His hearing picked up a several heavy noises that came from close by. Looking off in that direction, he squinted to see a blur of figures moving towards him. Footsteps, armored footsteps. One of the figures apparently caugh sight of him and yelled out something that sounded like "Over here." The blur began to separate now as the number of the figure became plain, a few dozen maybe. They surrounded him now, their faces carefully hidden in the darkness despite the torches they carried.

Then one of them spoke up." It's a surface dweller!"

Surface dweller. So he was still underground then. Hidan opened his mouth to reply before a sudden realization hit him. There was a reason the marble had felt so cold. He was naked. No clothes, no sycthe, no necklace. "Hell. This definitely hell then." He grumbled.

"Explain yourself! Now!" The same voice ordered.

Hidan's legendary quick temper kicked in with that sentence and the ensuing rage took over his body. Phasing out the aching pain and giving him enough strength to leap to his feet and plant a punch square across the jaw of the man who had gave the order.

What followed was a good old fashioned fight. Hidan worked through the stiffness in his bones with every punch and kick he threw at the guards sending each crumbling to the ground or flying several feet away. He had just started to miss his scythe when one particularly weak gripped staff flew into his hands. With a smirk, he head butted the guard it belonged to and yanked it from his hands. Once he had fallen, he caught a glimpse of light that signaled it as the exit.

Plowing through everything that stood in his way, Hidan took off running towards that exit. Once there and his eyes adjusted to the sight of the strangest city he had ever seen, did he realize his guess might be off.

"Hell, my ass." He growled.

But it wasn't too long after that did his strength begin to fade. More guards came and as did the blonde bastard and soon enough, he found himself in his current predicament. Trapped inside a transparent cell, his hands chained to the floor, and a single pair of pants that had been slipped on him while he was out.

He was still weak. It was frustrating but he knew that without his old strength he couldn't fight through all the bastards that stood outside. So he made a plan. The guards had cleared out when the blonde bastard fought him and they opened his cell on his order so that gave an impression that he was in charge. So when his fist shot to Hidan's face, he took extra care to Knick the skin around it with his teeth.

And now, with the taste of iron in his mouth once again, he willed himself to sit up just he did earlier. His chakra was still low, too low for anything elaborate but luckily his technique didn't require too much chakra. Just a little blood.

He looked out towards his cell and saw that the blonde bastard and his guards were listening intently to the black wearing bastard and his bright bitch friend. That worked just fine. With a sigh and a deep breath, he took the chain that trapped his hands and stretched it across his feet. It was a cold steel slightly serrated to discourage attempts at breakouts. Which only gave him a smile. Then as he the group outside stood ignoring him, he began to swipe his feet across it. Light and fast. Burning at first, and then finally opening the skin.

"Batman?" Diana asked as he hung up.

"Something's going down in Gotham, I need to get back." Batman replied cold but with a hint of urgency.

"I'll come with….." Diana started

"No, I can handle it on my own." Batman cut her off. "Stay here with Aquaman and make sure he keeps him in one peace." Aquaman grumbled at his words but he contiuned. " Use you're lasso, if he doesn't start cooperating. Somehow he teleported himself into Atlantis and we need to figure out how and why…" Batman's voice came to a screeching halt as he glanced back to the prison cell. Diana noticed the pause as did Arthur and both turned to look back at the prisoners as did the guards who had taken there eyes off him for what couldn't have been more than a minute. What they saw stunned all of them.

"God damn, that hurts…" Hidan groaned behind gritted teeth pulling himself to his bruised and bloody feet with the now crimson colored chain. He looked out to all their stunned gazes and smiled at the sight. Looks like these assholes didn't know what to make of the blood gushing out of his feet or that he would do that to himself. Worked just fine but he needed to act fast. He quickly took to drawing his signature symbol on the ground.

"What is he doing?" Wonder Woman asked slightly disgusted at the sight.

"Whatever it is, I don't like it." Aquaman said moving towards the door.

"You don't have to like it, he'll bleed out if that keeps up." Batman pointed out moving with the ruler of Atlantis. "Open it, now!"

As the rather shoddily drawn triangle came to fruition inside a similarly poor circle, Hidan could feel his technique start to take hold. He swallowed the blood that lingered in his mouth and shot them a demonic grin as the door slid open. Within a second, his normal if scared body began to darken and white marking appeared across his face and spread to his torso and arms.

"Uh, uh." He said with a shake of the head towards the trio before smashing his head and nose into the clamp that held his hands. Before the three could take another step, Aquaman's hands flew to his face and he let out a loud gasp of pain. Diana and Bruce's looks of confusion gave him enough time to repeat the action a good five more times.

With the pain increased fivefold, Aquaman collapsed to his knees, blood now leaking from his nose and mouth.

"Arthur!" Diana rushed over to see if she could do a anything to stop it as Batman stood in place. Hidan let out a cruel laugh at the display.

"Ah, not so high and mighty now. Right bastard?!" Hidan called out giving himself another hit against the steel. Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed and temper got the better of her and she flew towards Hidan raising her hands over her head.

"Wonder Woman! Stop!" Batman yelled out just in time. Hidan hadn't moved in the slightest and smiled a crimson set of teeth up at her. As her hands sat clamped together ready to pound him into oblivion. "Think about what you just saw. Anything that happens to him happens to Arthur."

Wonder Woman's hands shook with rage as Hidan's smile seemed to pierce into her soul and Batman's words took hold. Her feet touched back on the ground in front of Hidan.

"Well the dark bastard's a smart one." Hidan said, spitting some blood onto Wonder Woman's cheek.

"Let him go." Wonder Woman ordered quietly, wiping the blood away with a still shaking hand.

"Let me go, bitch." Came Hidan's reply. Wonder Woman looked back to Batman who looked over to the guards who came rushing to their king's aide.

"Let you're prisoner go."

"The King gave orders…" One guard started.

"What was that?" Hidan asked putting his eyes up against the chain. That shut the guard up right there.

"Ah, see. Condom's on the other dick now isn't it?" Hidan chuckled as his own blood trickled down his face. "Now, hurry the fuck up!" He called out.

The clamp that held his hands together fell to the ground moments later. Hidan flexed his fingers, making sure everything was still moving as it should be before facing the rest of them.

Now, here's where things got tricky. That bitch could fly so that's a going to be a pain to get through and he didn't no what to expect out of the dark bastard so that was wild card. On his side though, was their stupidity. They didn't know how his technique stopped working after he stepped out the circle. So as long as he could funnel his chakra into keeping his skin this shade of black and white, he might just make it out of here. He looked down to the now unconscious body of Aquaman. He'd love to just kill the bastard, but he needed to leave more than anything else. Yet keeping his

"Now, I'm getting the fuck out of here. Anyone stops me, and it'll hurt blondie there a lot more than me." Hidan said taking a step out of the circle. He walked right past the heroes, flipping them and every guard in the cell and surrounding room in the process. Each stood there begging to move the second they saw Hidan's skin turn back to normal. Once he found a door that led upwards. He vanished behind it.

The reaction was almost instant. Wonder Woman and Batman shot off towards the door and took off after him.

* * *

"Jesus….." Tim whispered to himself too stunned to really process what he saw. Here, at the basement of the Iceberg Lounge, lying amongst several hundred thousand dollar of automatic weapons were about fourth of Penguin's henchmen. Each as frozen as any victim of Mr. Freeze had ever been. Save for blinking. That they did a lot of. He peered over the body of one of men and saw a single knife stuck in his right bicep. Ok, painful sure but wouldn't do that on it's own. Poison? A paralyzing agent? That would explain the lack of movement. "Ambulances are on the way right?" He asked over to Batgirl. She gave an affirmative nod in his direction as she scanned for any signs of movement. She caught one, skulking around in the corner.

"God damned elevators…Where the hell is Bane?" Penguin grumbled futilely pushing the button. Carefully holding his swollen hand and shaking in pain, he caught sight of Batgirl about the same time as she did him. He panicked and immediately moved for a peace of the grounded hardware. That plan stopped short when Batgirl's boot smashed into his cheek. Sending him back with a authority.

Tim clutched his head thinking about how much that hurt as Batgirl was immediately back on him. She placed that same boot over Cobblepot's hand careful not to put any pressure on it.

"What's going on, Cobblepot?"She asked. "I don't think all these hardware was part of you're plea deal."

"Listen to me you stupid bitch….." Penguin started, more out of fore of habit then taunting. He was rewarded with Barbra's boot slamming into his hand. Once again, Tim flinched at the impact and the yell Penguin cried out.

"OK! OK!" He begged. She took her foot of and motioned for him to continue. "This wasn't my fault! Honest! I was here trying to have a nice quiet night! That's all damn it!"

"And Bane was what? Hired muscle?" Robin asked walking up next to her.

"No! Well…yeah, sort of. Where is he?"

"Fighting the same buy who brought you Batman?" Batgirl answered. "Speaking of which…." Her foot drifted dangerously over Cobblepot's hand. "Where is he?" Her eyes drifted over to the shark tank and it returned to Penguin a bit more fearsome.

"That wasn't Batman!" Penguin cried defending himself. "It was some kind of ninja. One of those League of Shadows bastards, maybe…."

"Dressed as Batman?" Robin asked. Penguin shook his head.

"No, it was one of those ninja tricks. He exploded in a puff of smoke, broke my freakin' hand and then did this to my boys!" Penguin explained.

"A puff of smoke?" Tim chuckled. "Sounds more like magic."

"I don't care what it is!" Penguin howled. "Point is, that red eyed bastard's gone so just….."

Batgirl's eyes widened as did Tim's. They never saw Itachi leave the casino. Batgirl pulled Penguin back to his feet. "This guy, did he look Asian? Long hair?"

"It was hard to tell." Penguin explained with a growl. "Just saw the eyes before the lights went out."

"Damn it." Batgirl sighed clenching her fist. That raised a whole bunch of new questions. Why did Itachi change into Batman? What happened to the redhead with him? Did he know the man outside with Bane?" Again, speaking of which.

"This is Batgirl. Huntress? Canary? Either of you nearby?"

"This is Huntress. What's up?" Came the familiar vigilante's voice.

"We've got Bane and an unknown squaring off just outside the lounge. Can you help out?"

"That's the question. Isn't it?" A new, male voice replied.

"Oh, hey Q." Barbra said surprised to hear from the notoriously people shy detective.

"Batgirl." He replied in his typical greeting tone. Within moments, Huntress' voice came back.

"On our way. Something big going down there or something?" She asked. As if Bane fighting wasn't that big of a deal.

"I'm not sure yet. Will let you know." Batgirl replied before cutting out. She turned back over to Penguin who now sat tied up and out cold. She raised an eyebrow to Tim who stood there whistling.

"What? Batman doesn't like lose ends." He replied. Barbara couldn't hide a smile at the young heroes attitude. Still though, they needed to find Itachi and figure out what he was doing here. Problem was that the Lounge was a huge building and finding one person in it was going to be an incredible pain in the ass. Especially since Itachi seemed to be far more subtle and planning then the usual people she dealt with.

"Hey uh Batgirl?" Tim's voice called out to her. She turned over to him and saw him listening to a nearby radio that somehow escaped the damage.

"It's complete chaos out here outside the Iceberg Lounge." Snapper Car's voice came ringing out. "Known super criminal Bane appears to be engaged with another masked man. Completely decimating the street outside. Meanwhile, news of a fire seems to have broken out from the balcony and…"

The radio cut off and a particularly powerful force surged through the entire Iceberg Lounge right at that moment. Most likely emanating from the top down.

"Rooftop?" Robin asked.

"Rooftop." Batgirl agreed.

* * *

Hidan's body thankfully had healed somewhat from when he first awoke. As such his body moved similar to the speed had back before he was in the hole. And with a greater speed and agility than his pursuers thought possible of a man who had mutilated himself, he stayed ahead of them. But unfortunately they could still follow him. The blood he had spilled continue to take it's toll. With each step he took, blood fell to the ground. Giving them a good and easy trail to follow.

Now, just outside the palace and ducking away in a corner, nestled behind some sort Atlantean statue. He struggled to come up with an idea for what to do next. Getting a better view of the city on his exit, from the palace. He finally noticed that it sat not under ground. But on the sea floor. He was surrounded water on every angle. And he hated swimming while bleeding. Attracted too many damn fish. Still though, that might be his only way out. And he knew that. But then that begged the question of where to go from there? Up? Sure but what after that. He needed to get his bearing and quick other wise he was going right back into that cell. He breifly thought about praying to Jashin but his anger at his lack of intervention still ached his soul so that was out.

A strange noise came from behind him. A sort of squishing pair of footsteps that he'd never heard before. He turned and readied for a fight.

"All right. You motherfucker. Let's go!"

His yells vanished in an instant. As did he. Leaving nothing but a bloody footprint where he once stood.

* * *

 **A/N:Tada! I know. I know. Kind of a cop out ending, but trust me. It'll make sense further down the line. Anyway, what you guys think? Good? Bad? Let me know you're thoughts, either way.**

 **See ya later**


	11. Heroes and Shinobi

" _Look's like my body's still a little sluggish.."_ Itachi thought to himself as the once beautiful and expensive looking area that was the Iceberg Lounge balcony now sat ablaze with fire and smoke flying out the shattered windows. He had hoped he'd recuperated enough to quickly activate a jutsu that would end the fight but Croc proved to be quite nimble for a monster of his size. Especially since neither him nor his prone body were anywhere to be seen. Did the explosion blast him out of the building? The thought was such that Itachi grew a tiny grin. " _Kisame would probably have a joke about falling crocodiles."_

He turned back to the elevator where Jacob sat curled up against the wall, his mouth agape but shielding his eyes from the smoke that started to surround him.

"What the hell was that?!" He coughed out to his rescuer who shrugged and leaped next to him.

"Our way out." Itachi replied. grabbing his arm leading the very much confused Sasori agent through the flames and to the outside area that, save for the shards of glass from the broken windows, remained unscathed. Outside sat a lit up bright neon helipad and a bruised and dazed Wallace.

"So, you breath fire now?" Wallace asked cradling his head, clearly fighting a significant headache. Itachi wasn't sure if he noticed his nod but it didn't really matter right now. He needed to get these two out of here before continuing any further. He was honestly amazed Wallace had got up from that throw from Croc but chalked it up to his natural size and toughness. Tough or not though, keeping him and Jacob around any longer than needed was pushing fate a bit too far.

Which led to the current quandary, Kakazu had told him he'd have whatever a helicopter was waiting for them up here. So just where was it?

A bloodcurdling cry combined anger with pain and alerted the trio to presence of the singed but still moving Croc.

"That. Hurt." He growled out towards the trio.

"Where'd you even come from?!" Wallace yelled. "He blasted you off the roof!"

Itachi fought back a smile at the confirmation of his thought from earlier. "I can climb too jackass!" Croc yelled charging towards the trio. Deciding that Tsukoyomi would have a more permanent effect, Itachi's began to morph when a new pair of figures appeared over their heads. Croc shielded his face just in time to stop a a barrage of battarangs and two drop kicks from making too much of an impact. The figures flipped back through the air and landed in front of the trio.

"What exactly did you do now?" Batgirl asked annoyed at the red eyed former shinobi.

Itachi shrugged. "My apologies if you were caught up in the flames."

"Nah. We're good. Pretty powerful blast though. Hope you guys are ok." Robin replied out looking over the trio before seeing Itachi. He deactivated his technique just as the young crimefighter made eye contact. "So, you're the guy who can run along walls." Robin tilted his head, seemingly unimpressed but still polite "Cool."

"Hey, I thought Robin was older." Wallace said scratching his head and unknowingly speaking for Jacob who shook his head now throughly decided to roll with it. Robin shifted his stance at the words. "I'm sort of new to this."

Itachi had no clue know why, but for a split second, this "Robin" took on the shape of his long lost innocent kid brother. A Sasuke who hadn't been traumatized to the point of oblivion. It was over just as fast as it began but it pretty much confirmed to Itachi that this was a good kid.

"Focus Robin." Batgirl ordered just as Croc began to regain his sight. Robin nodded and the pair leapt towards the reptilian man and began to battle. Ducking and dodging around his clumsy attacks with the elegance of trained shinobi before combing their attacks in almost perfect unison and never in the exact same place. Robin would strike at Croc's face, Batgirl his legs. Robin his right, Batgirl his left. An excellent teamwork strategy that wielded good results of wearing down the already singed monster.

Before he could think of what to do next, the motorized sounds of what Itachi would come to know as a helicopter appeared and the trio looked up to see a bright red, military grade chopper seemingly appear out of nowhere. A door slid open from the vehicle as the blades above continued to whirl and a strangely armored man with a helmet waved his hands to get aboard. Wallace wasted no time shaking his headache off and grabbing Jacob and putting stepping aboard. When Itachi didn't follow, Wallace looked back, confused.

"Whatcha waiting for? Let's go!" Wallace called out, his voice barely making it through the noise of the spinning blades . Itachi shook his head. Mouthing, "You'll be safe until we meet again." Wallace started to go back out when the door closed in front of him. The noise started to fade as the helicopter rose into the air before vanishing completely. Noise and all. Was that some sort of camouflage technique? Whatever it was it looked useful. His blink after wards quelled his thoughts. He turned back to the crime fighters who now looked to be knocking Croc onto his last legs. With a silent nod of farewell that neither would notice, he dropped off the roof of the Lounge away from the Bat-family and towards the streets below.

* * *

Wonder Woman had to admit, Batman could stare at something and ponder it a good deal longer than she could. She wasn't even sure if he was blinking under that cowl of his. Still though it was perplexing enough to warrant his gaze. It was the last footprint of the fugitive Hidan before he disappeared. Covered in drying blood and just sitting there on the cold Atlantean ground.

"So, you think he got his tele-porter working again?" She asked half wondering if Batman could even here her given his fixation on the footprint.

"Obviously." He replied not bothering to look up at her. He knelt down and pulled what looked like a napkin from his belt. "You've dealt with more supernatural specimen than I have. You seen anything like his power before?" He asked wiping up the bloody print, for what would no doubt be a long research session in the bat cave.

Diana shook her head. "Can't say I have." She tilted her head impressed. "This is actually something we haven't seen before."

"And Arthur paid the price for it." Batman grumbled standing back up. He looked away from the Amazon and over to an Atlantean guard who accompanied them. "He going to come out of this ok?"

"Queen Mera says he's bruised but he he should be fine." The guard replied after taking a moment to communicate back with the palace. "I still don't see how a surface dweller could get passed our defenses. Even with magic, it shouldn't be possible without alerting our king."

"We'll have to deal with that later." Batman replied looking back to Diana. "I need to get back to Gotham. Diana I'll drop you off at…."

"We've got to head back to Gotham. You mean." Wonder Woman interrupted folding her arms. "You're not getting rid of me that easily.

"Fine. Let's go." He growled back not feeling in the mood to argue with the Amazon who took it as a rare victory against him. Moments later, the Javelin took off and blasting into the surrounding ocean and up towards the surface.

* * *

With a kick that housed more strength than his frame let on, Kakazu flung Bane through the air before leaping up and shoving his elbow into his stomach sending him crashing back down onto a nearby empty car crushing the now worthless Porsche under his massive frame. Picking himself back up with minimal effort he charged yet again at the masked man who returned the gesture, creating a sort of mini shockwave with their collision. The two stood with each's hand caught by the other and now striving to overpower the one who stood across from them.

Kakazu smiled up to his fellow masked warrior knowing he already had the advantage. Bane was an incredibly gifted mercenary. His deadly combination of strength and intelligence alone guaranteed that. Throw in his famous "Venom" serum on top of it, and you have a devastating monster capable of putting even the most well trained heroes six feet in the ground.

Kakazu, or K as he'd been called however, was definitely no hero. And partially due to their previous run-ins, he'd come to learn of a fatal flaw in Bane's character. He was a sore loser and prone to making mistakes when he was angry. Kakazu sighed at the complete one eighty that Bane could go to once he was hit with the stuff.

Self control was perhaps the most vital thing to have in a mercenary's line of work. In that type of job you were guaranteed to come across people you didn't like whether they were targets or partners and losing your cool for whatever reason was a good way for any plan you might've had to go sideways in less than a second. As such, Bane had always prided himself in being hard annoy. He disliked people, sure. Probably more than most people do. But when it came time to do his job, ninety-eight percent of the time, he could drop his personal hatreds or grudges and take care of things efficiently.

Then there was that pesky two percent margin that always came back to bight him. It was a particular group of people that no matter what they did or he did to them, they could always irk him in some way and typically cause his downfall. And amongst that group, K always stood out as being a particular annoyance.

"You've been working out?" Kakazu mocked. "You're putting a bit more energy into it than before." Bane gritted his teeth ignoring the the goad by his opponent and sent a kick of his own towards K's chest. It made contact but K's grip didn't loosen. With Bane now being brought along for the ride, the pair flew across the air and into yet another car that looked to be driving straight towards the pair. Just before the crash, two figures rolled out from the car and away from the jumbled brawl. The car however didn't just stop in it's tracks and K and Bane were chucked away from each other as the now now window-shieldless car smashed into a nearby street lamp.

One of the figures, the female vigilante whom Batgirl had called earlier was the first to stand up after ejecting from the car projecting her annoyance straight at the driver of said car.

"Okay, that could've gone better." Huntress grumbled.

"'C'mon Q, why don't you let _me_ drive?'" Her partner mocked laying in the snow and imitating her voice with an added shiver due to the cold. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"I get it Q!" Huntress yelled out as Question stood back up wiping off his signature blue coat of any lingering snow just in time see one half of the brawling mercenaries fly past them and smash into his car. K grumbled after taking a breath. "Ok, That one wasn't bad." He then looked over to the newly arrived heroes.

"Huntress. Question."

"K?" Huntress asked recognizing the man. "What the hell are you doing out of prison?"

"Shouldn't you be asking him that?" K asked pointing back to the hulking Venom rage induced figure grinning in the distance. "He doesn't seem to like me."

"Really? I never would've guessed." Question replied looking over Bane. He was tired. Too tired to deal any lasting damage as long as they were careful. Just who this "K" was and how he managed to tire out a monster like Bane, well that was another question all together. "Huntress you know this man?"

"He's a mercenary." Huntress replied. "Goes by K. He also makes a pretty kickass drink if you asks him to."

"If you pay me to." K corrected breathing another sigh of relief and relaxing his muscles as if the fight had taken a decent tole on his body. "He got me pretty good. So if you want to help, I'll take it."

"Look, if you're ok, just wait right here. Huntress and I will handle the rest." Q nodded.

"We will?" Huntress asked back with a raised eyebrow. "Bane's no pushover Q."

"Get out of the way, heroes!" Bane ordered towards the pair pointing towards the man still up against Q's car. "He's mine!"

"Just follow my lead." Q ordered prepping for the fight.. "I'll get his attention. You try and knockout his supply." Huntress nodded biting back a witty retort and focusing on the task at hand. The pair took off towards the criminal who roared in annoyance at their interference. K, for his part simply picked himself up from the wreckage. Silently thanked the heroes for their timely involvement and vanished from sight.

* * *

Sasori hated being out in the open like this. Even back home, he'd always preferred taking care of business away from prying eyes. Plus, in general he didn't trusted crowds. And that was before he lived in a place where everything was recorded and preserved in a vault somewhere. So you can imagine his anger at the three or four news crews that had settled all around the Lounge, trying their best to get good shots of the brawl Bane and K must've been having. Then there was the whole thing with Itachi and wherever the hell he was.

"Yo." Itachi said walking up behind him with a wave. The red head had to fight back a face palm at the timing. Turns out the saying was true.

"Speak of the devil. Where the hell have you been?" Sasori asked looking at the slightly roughed up Uchiha. His clothes were still held together but they seemed singed and smelled like they had come close to burning. But his fashion didn't bother him so much as the lack of any other person with him. "And where's Jacob?"

"Ran into some trouble on the roof. But got him on a helicopter that Kakazu called. They'll be dropped off whenever and wherever we decide."

"Helicopter?" Sasori asked. "When did that become a part of the plan? He said he was calling us a car."

"Relax red." Kakazu said walking up beside the pair surprising Sasori and Itachi alike. "Car should be here any second."

"Take care of Bane?" Sasori asked. Kakazu shook his head.

"Nope, wasn't being paid to. I just needed to keep him distracted till the heroes showed up. They'll take care of each other and be our distraction till our ride gets here."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Why do we even need to wait for a car? Sasori and I walked here from our hideout. Let's just…."

The sound of tires screeching across the cold snowy road just a few feet away from them suddenly reached the trio's ears as a long black limousine plowed through the snow and halted right next to them.

"A limo?" Sasori griped, annoyed by the lack of discretion.

"What? I need a drink." Kakazu replied being the first to enter the car. Itachi followed suit as did Sasori who immediately closed the door behind him and yelled up to the front.

"You know where Beatrice Bowling is?"

"Oh sure hun! I'll get ya there in a jiffy!" A distinctly feminine replied with more energy than you'd expect coming from a limousine driver. The back window to the driver's seat slid down and the driver looked back to the three with a ruby red smile. "So you're K's friends huh? I didn't think he had any." She laughed. Her hair was hid under a driver's cap save for a few strands of blonde that crept out to the side and her eyes gleamed with an unnatural chaos that Itachi had never quite seen before. Sasori on the other hand, had seen that look before. Several times in both prison databases and captured crimes. She was usually garbed in a jester suit and her face covered in theatrical clown make up.

"Kakazu?" Sasori looked over to the mercenary who had just took of the lid of a whisky bottle that had been sitting in the chair next to him and was scoffed at the driver's insult. "Is that…"

"You want to wait around for the Bat Family to find us Quinn?" Kakazu asked up towards the driver's seat ignoring Sasori's question but also giving him the answer he'd been dreading. "Move it. Barba's Bowling."

"Beatrice…" Sasori corrected burying his face into his hands in a display that nearly made Itachi laugh. He wasn't sure what had caused it but the notoriously stoic Sasori seeming so defeated was amusing.

"Whatever." Kakazu replied downing a drink. "There's an extra grand if you get us there in twenty minutes or less."

That was all the motivation the driver needed. With a smile that seemed eerily similar to the infamous clown prince's, Quinn floored the gas and took off down the road. Disappearing into the Gotham night.

* * *

It didn't take too long for things to calm back down after that. Question's observations about Bane proved true and soon he and Huntress had him him Venom dry and handcuffed to a fire hydrant. Likewise on what remained of the roof of the lounge, Batgirl and Robin had Croc down and out just as. Justice Leage issued Javelin sat down atop it. "Jeez, took you long enough to get here." Robin sighed looking at his mentor and the Amazon with an annoyed frown. "You know you could've told us if you wanted to relax with your girlfriend."

"Batgirl, what happened here?" Batman asked ignoring Tim's question and looking to the redhead for answers with his usual intimidating bat glare.

"Where do I begin?" Batgirl replied standing up from looking over Croc's unconscious body. "You want to talk about how someone dressed like you got captured, broke out and wrecked Penguin's lounge? Or the fact that it was the same guy I met last night?"

"Or how can breath fire?!" Robin chimed in wondering how Batgirl could forget that little tidbit.

"Who is this person exactly?" Diana asked just as two new figures appeared on the side of the roof via grappling hook.

"Oh good. You two got here just in time." Huntress mocked helping Q up as he clutched his arm. "Could've used your help with Bane."

"Bane was here?" Diana asked clearly surprised but the addition.

"Yeah. Bastard was going after an old friend." Huntress replied before looking at Batman. "By the way, K's out of prison."

Batman's glare somehow managed to narrow even further as Wonder Woman could do little other then ask the obvious. "Um, who's K?"

Neither replied before moving away from the group to continue their conversation. Leaving Wonder Woman alone with Q as Batgirl and Robin followed thier mentor.

"A real asshole, as I've been told. He dissapeared after we took over his fight with Bane. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one responsible for the break up of the nineties boy bands." Question answered, waving at Diana with his good arm. "How you been Diana?"

Wonder Woman smiled at the statement glad to see that Q still had his sense of humor. Despite everthing that had happened with him and Superman, he was still as good hearted as any of them even if perhaps he saw connections where there weren't any. But then again, he was a better detective than she was. So who was she to judge? "Hey Q. Your arm ok?"

"Ah." Question said waving off her concern. "Lucky shot. I'll be fine. You know anything about this K guy?"

"About as much as I know about Batgirl's mystery man."

"What? You mean Batman's not good with sharing secrets?" Question asked with obvious sarcasm.

"About as good as Huntress is I'm sure." Wonder Woman replied.

Question nodded "Point taken. So, where were you and he at anyway?"

"Aquaman called about...some jackass in Atlantis." Wonder Woman explained failing to come up with a better word for the idiot know as Hidan. "Get this, he can apparently teleport and use some magic that makes anything happen to him happen to someone else."

"Like some sort of human voodoo doll?" Question asked. "That's a new one."

"A lot of this isn't starting to seem new." Wonder Woman replied. Question could only nod in agreement.

* * *

It was close to four o'clock in the morning when the trio of misplaced shinobi arrived back at Sasori's home via a limousine sliding into the parking lot of Beatrice Bowling. "All right boys! B's bowling on your right. That'll be three grand please."

"Kakazu." Sasori said offering the bounty hunter the opportunity to pay the bill as he exited the car. Kakazu looked annoyed at the red head before looking to Itachi who shook his head and pulled out his empty wallet for proof.

"Cheap bastards." Kakazu replied grabbing a rolled up wad of cash and tossing it up to the driver. "You're bleeding me dry Quinn."

"Hey! You woke me up from a pretty nice nap! You're lucky I even got up to get you guys." The driver replied with a huff. "Besides, a girl's got bills to pay. Thank of it as helping those less fortunate than yourself."

"Yeah. Yeah." Kakazu grumbled getting out of the limo after Sasori. Quinn smiled at the reaction before remembering the third occupant.

"You got something to say handsome?" The driver asked looking back to Itachi. Itachi replied with a simple head bow.

"Just my gratitude ." Itachi replied. "Thank you for helping us miss Quinn."

Apparently, she wasn't quite used to a simple thank you and went silent at the Uchihas words before smiling. " Don't mention it handsome. And I don't have the coat on right now. Just call me Harley." The driver finished with a wink.

Itachi nodded and gave a wave of goodbye as he stepped out of the limo himself and into the wintery car lot. Soon enough, the limo drove off and Itachi found himself back inside Sasori's home. Walking right into a shouting match between his two associates.

"Harley Quinn?!" Sasori yelled.

"Yeah? What about her?" Kakazu replied sitting himself down in a chair. "We needed a driver. So I gave her a call."

"You called the girlfriend of a makeup wearing psychopath?!"

"Ex girlfriend." Kakazu corrected. "Itachi said you were informed. I thought you would've known that. She hasn't been seen with him for months."

"And that changes what exactly?" Sasori asked rubbing his forehead trying to stave off the headache that night night had given him.

"It means she doesn't want to have anything to do with clown these days. And was looking for a job so I set her up as a driver."

"Wow." Itachi said making himself known. "That's generous of you."

"Don't you start Uchiha." Kakazu grumbled. "Now if we can put who I associate with to the side for a second. Can either of you answer a single question for me?" Itachi and Sasori looked to each other wondering if they were gonna hear what they themselves had already asked. "How in the fuck, did we get here?"

* * *

 **A/N: Well I think I'll call it here. As always I hoped you enjoyed it and let me know your thoughts. Check ya later**.


	12. The Morning After

Martha took a small sip of her coffee as she opened the door to her porch, hugging the coat she had thrown over her clothes just as the morning air hit her. She had a love hate relationship with this time of year. On one hand the snows this time of year were her favorite type of weather going back to when she was just a girl. A kind that blankets everything and gives of beautiful shine that she couldn't find anywhere else in the world. "On the other hand." She muttered out loud. "It's always too damn cold to fully enjoy it." She silently berated herself at the swear when she noticed she wasn't alone.

"Good morning Ms. Kent." Konan greeted with a light head bow in her direction. Martha looked surprised at the blue haired shinobi.

"A cold one, anyway." Martha sighed. She tilted her head at the girl. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"I went to sleep the same time as your son. Woke up not to long before you did." Konan explained.

"Honey didn't anyone ever tell you that it's good to get eight hours of sleep if you want to stay healthy?" Martha walked over to brown rocking chair right next to the girl who had settled for on the fold-able lawn chair.

"Yes. But where I'm from, such an amount was a luxury. Not a necessity." Konan looked out over the snow covered fields. "One that I never had the privilege to enjoy.:

Martha pity for the girl swelled yet again and her motherly instincts took hold. "Well, whatever happened to you before, you're here now. Rest up a bit." She smiled reaching across and handing Konan her coffee mug. "Learn to enjoy life a little bit."

Konan hesitated to accept the gesture but not wanting to seem rude, she relented. Martha chuckled at Konan's face as she lowered the mug from her lips. "Not a fan of espresso I see."

"It tastes like dirt!" Konan scowled shivering as the aftertaste lingered in her mouth.

"Sorry dear. I've got some flavors in the cupboard if you want to try something else."

"It's fine." Konan handed the mug back to her. A small smile graced her lips as Martha took another sip. "Nagato would've liked it though."

"A friend of yours?" Martha asked. Konan nodded. "You've never mentioned him."

"Apologies. I didn't wish to bother you with stories of my past."

"Dear, look at me." Martha gestured to herself and what she imagined to be a typical grandma look. "Do I look like someone who doesn't want to be bothered with stories about the past? You just wait until I pull out Clark's baby pictures."

Konan's smile held and as Martha laughed. "So go ahead. Tell me about your mysterious friend."

Konan leaned back into her chair thinking of the perfect way to describe her oldest friend without letting on about some of the more questionable things they did. Peering down at them from his room, Clark kept his eye on them while listening to the words from the Hall.

"I've got nothing Supes."

Clark tapped the wall in frustration putting only the tiniest amount of force behind it to not leave an indention. "Nothing?"

"Look I'm not Batman all right." Mr. Terrific replied from the Hall sitting in his chair and scanning over pages and pages of profile pictures. "But I'm telling you that she's not on record as missing, dead, or living. No criminal activity under the name Konan either, unless she's a barbarian in her free time."

Zipping right by the joke Clark continued. "Ok, what about all the files on Cadmus?" Question had looked through most of them back when they were a threat but he did also 'lose it' for a bit when he saw the Justice Lords file. It was entirely possible he missed something.

"Nope. Still nothing." The voice came back. Before Superman could grumble in frustration, "I do have something else though. It's another file seprate from the Justice Lords but still under 'Alternate Dimensions'.

"Dimensions?" Clark repeated quietly, taking care not to wake up anyone in the house. "What's the interest?"

"It seems to have been written by Waller herself. And it talks about how some guy apparently showed up here in the 80s. Weird powers, and Asian descent. Sound familiar?"

Clark was unconvinced. "How does this link back to Konan?"

"You said she was part of a group right?" Terrific explained. "Well, one of the only things on this guy is that he said he was part of a group too."

"That's pretty vague." Clark sighed.

"Hey, you asked for my help remember?" Terrific pointed out. "Ask Batman about her. He's probably already knows about it and just didn't tell you."

Clark really hated the fact that he couldn't argue. "All right. Thanks Terrific."

"Sure thing." Was the final reply before static.

* * *

"In short, I summoned an ancient demon husk from the moon and that gave me the rods in my body." Nagato said from his bed. He lifted his palm and summoned one such rod to his hand. "As well as the ability to recreate and use them at will." He placed the rod at the foot of his bed right next to emerald colored teen he had met last night.

"You're weird dude." Beastboy replied.

"Yes. I have been told so." Nagato smiled. He looked over to the man who looked to be half machine and half human. "Is that saying a lot?"

"Oh yeah." Cyborg nodded as he continued to run his scans that rattled Nagato's ears with their annoying beeps. "And believe me, we have _seen_ some shit."

"The demon part sounds familiar though." A third voice said entering the room. Nagato looked over to see another teen clad in some rather strange colored armor and an 'eyes only' mask seemingly glued to his face. "Did you ever here of the name Trigon?"

Nagato shook his head. "Can't say I have."

The scanning noises died down and Cyborg put on a smile. "All right. Good news is looks like you just collapsed from exhaustion when BB caught ya. And considering how thin you are, I can't say I'm surprised by that."

"Yes. I have not..." Nagato looked down at his body still under the sheets and frowned. "...had the luxury of my legs for a long time." He looked back up to the trio. "And you are certain no one else appeared along side me?"

"Not that I saw." Cyborg confirmed as Beastboy shook his head in agreement.

"Was anyone with you when you dropped in?" Robin asked crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall.

"The last thing I remember..." A sudden pain ran through his head as he tried to remember. He groaned out an answer after it weakened. "Itachi."

"Itachi?" Robin repeated. Nagato nodded.

"He is...was and old acquaintance of mine."

"He dangerous?"

"Incredibly so." Nagato smiled, giving Robin the sneaking suspicion that his words were more an understatement than a description. "But if you're asking if he'll go around attacking innocents, Then I wouldn't worry."

Robin knew he couldn't take the word of a stranger alone but at the same time his instincts weren't giving him anything to worry about. Though the man seemed somewhat awkward, he didn't seem like he was lying. At least at the moment. He uncrossed his arms and moved towards Nagato's bed. "Ok. What about you then? Would you consider yourself dangerous?"

Nagato's smile faded and he looked down towards his white sheets. "I am."

"And you say your _were_ friends. A falling out?" Robin asked.

"I wouldn't call it that." Nagato sighed. "And I think _friend_ is a little too generous of a word. We knew of each other but we hardly spoke about anything."

"Partners?"

Nagato's face darkened as he shook his head. "No. I only ever had one partner."

Robin caught the man's meaning and looked to the other two in the room. Cyborg stood quietly next to Nagato's bed pretending to read further diagrams and Beastboy putting on his best blank face though making it apparent that he was bored. The pair clearly weren't enjoying the interrogation and wishing for something else to do. "Cyborg, run scans over the city for any dimensional, anomalies. Science, magic, whatever just make sure we're not gonna get any more surprises. Also access every camera you can get. And see if any other portal opened up while Nagato was resting."

"Sure thing." Cyborg nodded.

"Beastboy. Take Raven and run go on patrol. Anything stand out or you need help, call." Robin ordered.

Beastboy nodded and quickly followed his friend out of the room. Closing the door behind him and leaving Robin to talk with the man alone.

"You really think it's a good idea to leave them like that?" Beastboy looked back, regretful he didn't ask it himself.

"You know how Robin is when he gets that whole "Batman" way of talking. Works best when he's alone."

"Yeah. But..." Beastboy remembered the power he felt from the man as he stopped the rain last night. As well as the image the man gave off with the thunder and lightning behind him. "I'm just not sure about this guy. I feel like we're only seeing one side of him."

"Look he tries anything, Starfire zoomes in and handles it. And that's if Robin can't handle it himself." Cyborg said trying to reassure his friend. "Relax. Raven doesn't like it whenever you're high strung."

"What the hell does that mean?" Beastboy raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't like me at all."

"Then she likes you even less when you're high strung." Cyborg corrected with a laugh. "Point is, keep a clear head. We don't know what we're looking for so that means it could be anything."

"On it." Beastboy's skin began to morph. "Let me know if you find something." He said before bounding down the hall as an emerald cat.

* * *

Itachi wasn't sure when he dosed off but he awoke with to what sounded like crashing wood. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up from the couch opening them to see the hazy figure of the newly found masked bounty hunter.

"Morning." Kakazu muttered keeping his attention focused on one of the now active bowling alleys. In his hand a round black sphere and at the other end of the alley, a pair of pins that stood opposite of each other on the left and right sides. Kakazu took a breath before swinging his arm behind his back and stepping forward. His arm then swung forward and the sphere crashed onto the alley spinning violently along the edge of the path. Then just as it got to an inch away from the pin on the far right, it dipped into the gutter. "God damn it." Kakazu grumbled.

"So that's bowling?" Itachi asked with a yawn. "Doesn't seem like there's much to it."

"That's what I thought." Kakazu replied. "But trust me, damn thing's harder than it looks."

"Ah, so the Uchiha has decided to grace us with his prescense." Sasori's voice rang out form behind them. Another box of pizza in his hand just as yesterday. "Breakfast."

"Is that what you eat every morning?" Kakazu asked.

"Not every morning." Sasori shrugged. "But it's cheap. And the delivery girl seems to enjoy the tip money."

"And I bet you enjoy the information you gain from her."

Sasori's blink was all Kakazu needed to tell he was right. Itachi's chin dipped as he realized it as well.

"So, anything about us?"

"Nothing on the major channels anway." Sasori replied. "Official story, Bane attacked the Iceberg Lounge and rampaged around until the heroes stopped him along with Croc who looked like he was hit with an accidental explosion on the roof."

"Nothing on Kakazu?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. He and Sasori had been careful to not draw unnecessary attention but their masked associate hadn't felt the need to do the same. Sasori's eyes drifted towards Kakazu.

"Not a damned word. Officially."

Kakazu smiled faintly under his mask and threw his hands behind his back. " Smells like Waller."

"Who?" Itachi asked with a tilted head. Sasori's eyes narrowed as he recognized the name.

 _"Amanda_ Waller?!"

"I'm willing to put money on it." Kakazu replied, all but confirming it to his fellow associates. You'd never get him to put up his own money otherwise.

"And she is?" Itachi repeated, getting annoyed with the lack of an answer from either of them. Sasori muttered a particularly long line of curses under his breath before replying.

"Amanda Waller is a US government agent who until recently was charged with keeping the Justice League under surveillance." Sasori rubbed the side of his head in annoyance. "As well as running a top secret operation called Task Force X. A military unit made up of life sentenced criminals that go on missions to reduce their sentences."

Itachi took the information in stride, narrowing his eyes as he processed it all. Judging by Sasori's mannerisms, she wasn't someone to be taken lightly. He looked back over to Kakazu who looked to have just finished a slice and put his mask back up. "And just how do you know her?"

Kakazu rubbed the back of his neck. "She and I go way back. She watches my back, I watch hers. That's about all there is to it." His bored gaze met Sasoir's suspicious eyes. "She's probably the reason you never found out anything about me. She likes to keep her assets out of sight."

"Does she know what you are? Where you're from?"

Kakazu shook his head. "Didn't see much of a reason to tell her. Figured I could find you on my own if one of you guys ever popped up. Low and behold." He gestured to Sasori and Itachi. "So now, the million dollar question is what happens next."

"You're not worried about screwing with Penguin?" Sasori asked. Kakazu's chuckle made him smirk

"As far as he knows, I took down a guy who looked like Batman. He lost him. Sure he'll be pissed about it but he'll get over it. I'm more concerned with what you two have in mind."

After a brief silence, Itachi spoke. "If you've been here for decades, then it's entirely possible that others are here as well."

"Or will be." Sasori continued gesturing to Itachi. "You just arrived a few days ago. Who's to say no one else has? Or if they won't in the future? And that's not even the most frightening thought."

"Hidan just randomly falling from the sky seems like a pretty fucking scary thought." Kakazu groaned, wondering where the redhead was going.

"The question you asked last night."

"Oh you mean the one you ignored."

Itachi's smile did nothing to lighten the mood as Sasori continued. "We're supposed to be dead. All three of us. We need to know how he got here and why."

"Agreed." Itachi said. "But if Kakazu hasn't found answers after decades of searching..."

"Who said I've been looking?" Kakazu interrupted. The eyes of disbelief annoyed him so he continued. "Look, you both know I could give a damn about the "who's" or "whys". "

"Then why ask us?" Itachi wondered.

"Curiosity." Kakazu shrugged. "And I figured one of you would make that priority so I might as well help out."

After a particularly long sigh from Sasori, he refocused sitting down at the same table as the other two. "Very well. I guess we should start by considering the most likely possibilites."

"Which are?" Itachi asked.

"That we are either aliens from a different planet, or that we've summoned from alternate version of the same planet."

"Great. One of those theoretical "universe" questions." Kakazu groaned.

"Look, I'll leave you two to discuss it." Itachi stood up. "I get the feeling I'll be asking more questions than offering answers if I hear anymore of this."

"Fine." Sasori replied. "But make yourself useful and check on the new arrivals. I got them staying in In the spare room."

"New arrivals?" Kakazu asked.

"Yeah. Apparently I'm giving out jobs to the homeless now." Sasori groaned to the Uchiha who gave a thankful nod and smile. He still wasn't sure what had happened to him here, but he seemed to have a little more compassion than before. The same went for Kakazu, who despite apparently knowing the woman who drove the home still never would've parted with money as far as he remembered. But he couldn't complain. Having his old asscoiates change who they were was definately for the better considering who they had been in their previous lives...Previous life.

Those last worlds lingered in Itachi's mind as he strode up the stairs. He had no clue what Sasori was hinting at back, but maybe at the bottom of it, there was a way for him to get back home. Maybe even see Sasuke again. True enough, he had parted telling him everything he had neglected to in life when he broke the jutsu that Kabuto had been using to snare the souls of the dead, and there really wasn't an urgent need to go back. He had faith that both his younger brother, Naruto, and the newly formed Shinobi Alliance could find away to beat Madara without him. But still, despite the lack of urgency or the knowledge of where they were, or how much time might've passed. Itachi hoped that one day he could go back home.

He stopped at the sounds behind a nearby closed door. Familiar voices reached his ear and he smiled.

"Working for Penguin? Were you high?!"

"Hey, It got us money didn't it?" Wallace defended raising his hands. "It wasn't gonna be a long job anyway. Just enough to get us a place and hunker down."

"Do you know what could've happened to you?!" Janice yelled, cradling the side of her head with an ice pack. "That little bastard's fed people to sharks for Christ's sake."

"I was doing fine, Janice." He grumbled. "Besides someone was going to have to pay for your hospital visit." Guilt hit him as soon as the sentence left his mouth and Janice went quiet sitting back down on her dusty bed and staring blankly at the ground. "Jan I'm..."

Paul waved him off stepping away from inspecting his new little shelf that sat next to own his bed. "She knows you didn't mean anything buy it. But c'mon man, you know she's right. We don't need you risking your ass to help us." He reached up and tapped on his friends shoulder. "We can't go to Irene's without your money if your dead."

The two smiled just as Frank spoke up. Who had been looking out the window for quite some time. "On the bright side, you did find us a place to outlast the cold."

"You can thank Itachi for that." Wallace replied just as the door opened up.

Itachi noticed the room was rather large, containing a small kitchen, a bathroom, two dusty beds, a raggedy couch, and a folding lawn chair peering out through the window. In short, it was probably more than enough for the four who now eyed him favorably.

"Well well, lady and gentlemen our guardian angel has joined us." Paul laughed.

Itachi shook his head. "Far from it. Just a friend."

"Son. I've had plenty of friends all my life." Janice said walking over to him. She embraced him harder than he had been expecting but a smile still splashed across his face. "And not too many of them would help us out like you did."

"Saving Wallace, getting us a place to stay, you did more than I ever could." Frank said tipping his ball-cap towards the man. As Janice lifted the embrace Itachi felt a small bit of embarrassment. It had been years since he had been thanked and felt truly good about it. Feeling it now after all this time was a little off putting but certainly not unwelcome.

"It's nothing really. I'm just glad Wallace got you guys over here."

"Oh yeah." Paul realized with a snap of his fingers. "Sort forgot the obvious question there but what the hell did you need from Penguin to break into his home?"

Itachi opened his mouth to explain but Frank went first. "Some thing that I'm sure is far more important than us, Paul. Now don't you have more stuff to do? You volunteered after all."

"Yeah. Yeah." Paul sighed. "I'll be on the roof in the freezing cold if anyone wants to, ya know, help a guy out." He walked by Itachi, slapping him weekly on the back in a move that reminded him of Kisame. "Thanks again." He said before leaving.

"The roof?" Itachi asked.

"We found a leak earlier." Frank explained. "Paul volunteered to fix it for...well I guess our new land lord. Guy still won't give us a name."

"I wouldn't wait for one." Itachi chuckled. "He's a pretty private person but you can trust him."

"A friend of yours is a friend of mine." Frank replied, Janice smiled in agreement as Wallace nodded. "So you doing anything in particular right now? Paul could probably use a little help with the roof. And Wallace and I don't do well with heights."

"Frank, leave the boy alone." Janice chided.

"It's fine." Itachi replied. "It would be good to work with my hands for a little bit and not worry about fighting."

"Awesome. Here." Frank replied tossing him a small device. "I just fixed up the radio if you want play some music."

* * *

Harley wasn't quite sure what time she made it to her home last night but she did make it back to her bed before she passed out so that was good. With the smell of breakfast in the air, she threw herself out of bed and onto the icy wood floor. True, the cold Gotham weather had made it even more cold than usual, but she didn't care at the moment. Bounding down the hall of her apartment, she soon spotted her roommate clothed in a bright green robe that almost perfectly matched her skin tone yet complimented her pure scarlet hair. "Morning Red." Harley laughed hugging her friend.

"You want to explain why you left in the middle of the night?" Ivy asked suddenly.

"I had a job for a friend." Harley said brushing off the question. "No big explosions or death rays. Just a simple pick up and drop off."

Ivy's cold tone eased slightly at the words but not enough to stop entirely. "Oh...Well just let me know next time."

Harley's smile could light up Gotham. "You wanted to come with?"

"Just to make sure you don't do something stupid." Ivy laughed turning away from stove with a pair of plates. Each one with either crispy bacon or scrambled eggs. Seeing the glint in her friend's eyes, Ivy stopped her from immediatly devouring it. "Now wait up, we've got a third roommate now remember?"

Harley looked dejected by the request but nodded before shouting "Z! Get up! Breakfast's ready!"

A particularly long groan emitted from another room just down the hall. Soon afterward a pair of footsteps echoed through the apartment and a pure white humanoid figure appeared in the kitchen. Dressed in a blue striped robe, he looked at his roommates with raised eyebrows. "What? I thought I could sleep in today."

"It's one pm." Ivy replied. "You only got to sleep that long because Harl stayed out last night. Now hurry up and get over here."

Z sighed scratching his messy green hair that still looked like it needed to wake up but moved to the table hoping some food would wake him up further. "You stayed out?" He asked to the blonde.

"Just to help a friend out of a jam." Harley replied snatching up some bacon. "I owed him a favor or two."

Z nodded pointing his yellow eyes down at the plate of eggs. He'd ask more after some food.

* * *

"Hand me a nail would ya?" Paul yelled out outstretching his gloved hand towards the Uchiha. Itachi did as he was told and handed him the little piece of metal. "Thanks." A few repeated whacks with a hammer soon followed brushing off some of the snow that still surrounded them and sliding some more ice off the roof's edge. With a look of satisfaction, Paul stood back to his feet and looked over his work. "Not bad if I do say so myself." He then looked out to the several other clones of Itachi spread out over the roof. Each one gave him thumbs up gestures with their empty hands while holding hammers in the other. He looked back towards the original who stood next to him. "Exactly what can't you do?"

"I can't play instruments that well." Itachi said after a brief moment of thought. Paul's laugh went on for a good minute before calming back down.

"Yeah? Well let me give you a taste of what quality music is." Paul said sitting back down and reaching for the radio. Itachi took a second to admire the view from up there. He could see the skyscrapers of Gotham stretching into the sky and gleamedunder the sun's shine but there was also plenty smaller neighborhoods that sat between him and them. It was a nice peaceful view. One he'd even compare to Konoha from atop the old Police building.

He was brought out of his flashback by sounds completely alien to him. High pitched chords of an instrument playing at an incredible speed, reached his ears through the radio. "Ah damn it. Just missed the solo." Paul groaned.

"What is that?" Itachi asked.

"98.3. Home of Rock and Roll." Paul looked over to him. "You like rock and roll?"

"Not really sure." Itachi said before words erupted out of the radio.

"And that was Shark-Skin by the Seven Swordsman." An enthused voiced called out. "Coming up next..."

Itachi's mind went blank after that. Those words. "Shark-Skin." "Seven Sworsdman." That couldn't possibly be what he thought it was. But if it was... He leapt off the roof, quickly dispelling the remaining clones and dashing inside.

* * *

 **A/N: Tada! Here's another little chapter. Nice to get back to writing these things. Hoped you enjoyed it and hope to see you next time. By the way, don't worry. I haven't forgotten about Hidan.**

 **See ya next time.**


	13. The Hammer Falls

The Obelisk had been always been a place of comfort and peace. As a two hundred foot egyptian style tower located in a magically sealed off forest in the Siberian wilderness far from civilization, it was to be a place where the weary or confused could come to find rest and solitude for deep thinking and self reflection. Where the defeated could rise up stronger and the lost could once again find meaning. At least, that had been the intention for as long as Kent Nelson had held the mantle of Dr. Fate. Over the years, he had helped those who had asked and those he thought deserved it. But the man who sat below the deck of his tower, staring out into the snowy blizzard that raged all around their protected pocket of land, had strangely not fit into either category. He had simply dropped into his home one day some weeks ago. Bypassing several dozen protection spells and magical barriers that were supposed to deter any unwelcome or unexpected visitors. And ever since he had barely spoken a word. Mainly spending his time staring out towards the forest that surrounded his new home and reading what he could on the outside world.

Now normally, he would've taken the time to his newest guest in depth by now but the last few weeks hadn't been particularly kind to his free time, what with the ever present risk of demonic invasions as well the increasing amount of work from the Justice League given to him since Darkseid's invasion some months back. He often wondered if he should let them now about his new guest but came to the conclusion that it would cause more worry than good. He'd keep him here until they had a chance to talk properly about who he was and where he came from.

"Still fascinated with our latest house guest?" Inza asked strolling up beside him. Fate's gaze softened behind his helm at the sound of his wife's voice.

"Some-what." He sighed. "I've decided to take the day off and get to know him." He looked over to her. "He talk to you any?"

"A bit here and there." Inza nodded. "From the day he arrived, he seemed confused and just as surprised as we were when he arrived here." She looked down to the figure still sitting calmly on a wooden bench seemingly fixated on the raging snow just beyond the barrier . "I think you made the right decision to let him stay here. He has sad eyes."

"Sad eyes?" Fate repeated with a chuckle. "Similar to Shayera?"

"Very much so."Inza replied. "But the guilt behind them, it triples that of Shayera's. "

Now that was a statment. Shayera or more commonly known as Hawkgirl had betrayed both her friends and the world in which she had lived on in favor for assisting her home planet of Thanagar with an invasion. She had a change of heart before any lasting damage could be done but the guilt had weighed heavy on her heart for years after. If this man's own guilt had equaled, let alone tripled, her own. It was almost a scary idea to wonder what he had done to feel guilty about.

"I see." Dr. Fate looked back down to the figure to see him stare back up to him and wave for him to come down. That was a first. "No time like the present." Fate said placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. "I'll be back a in a few moments." Inza nodded before a shining light consumed her husband and he vanished to the ground below. Having come much closer to the man Fate noticed that he held a somewhat somber expression. As if he had just recieved the news that a family member had just perished. In any case he'd find out soon enough.

"How are you feeling?" Fate asked the man. The man kept his expression but his gaze softened.

"Not particularly well." The man said. He reached up to the half of his face that bore the scars of a life he thought he had moved on from. Tracing over it lightly from his eye down to his hairless chin. "Do you think people can ever escape your past?"

Fate shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. A man's past always catches up with him."

The man ran a hand across his forehead. "I was afraid of that."

"Why do you ask?"

The man was silent for a moment before replying. "It seems that I'm not the only one to show up in your world."

"Enemies of yours?" Fate asked, figuring that was the reason he seemed so somber.

"No. The opposite actually." The man gave a sad smile. "I'd actually prefer it if my last enemies followed me here."

Fate was now very confused by the man's words. His friends followed him here yet he was still depressed? That was a bit of a mystery but he needed to know about something else before he could ask about that particular subject. "How exactly, do you know your friends arrived here? Some sort of sensory magic?"

The man stood up from the bench and motioned for Dr. Fate to follow back inside the Obelisk. The pair walked until they came to the room where the man had been staying. A modest size with a small tv and desk right next to a bookshelf. However, no books lay upon it. Instead they littered every corner of the room. A sign that the man had decided to learn all he could about his new residence and the outside world.

"Good to see you learning." Fate said. The man shrugged.

"If I knew it would tell me that the others were here, I'd of never have started." He said, grabbing one particular book off the floor titled. _Unidentified Creatures of Space and Beyond. _ More of a list than anything else. A simple collection of notes that Fate himself had collected on sightings of mysterious and or magical creatures he or other League members had seen in the field. The man handed him the book with a section seperated from the others under Creatures of Apokolips.

"Here. The seventh page in." The man said. Fate took the book and turned to the page.

"Black humanoid. Last seen skulking in the background of Darkseid's castle during Braniac's invasion years back. Seemed to cause no real harm to locals." Fate looked back up from the sketch of a shadowy body to the man. "You recognize him?"

The man gave quick nod. "Yes. And if this Apokolips is anywhere near this world, you would be wise not to let him out of your sight."

Fate chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't worry Obito. Apokolips is another planet far off in space. And ever since their leader perished for the final time, no one has stepped on or off that planet."

Obito's sigh wasn't as reassured as he would have liked. "Far away you say?"

Fate nodded. "Yes. Locked in perpetual war zone that no one warrior can unite."

Obito took the book back from the doctor and gave the sketch one last look. The idea of their being other planets out there, ones where life was possible and thriving in, had been a bit of an adjustment fo the Uchiha. But Fate's knowledge had so far paid off so he felt he could trust his word. But he did have to take issue with his last statement.

"I can think of two warriors who could unify a place like that." Obito replied, his mind flashing to the last Great Ninja War. And the two men who had swayed him to their paths during its course.

"And did they arrive with you?" Fate asked crossing his arms as Obito close the book.

"The first, I trust has moved on with his life. But for the second..." Obito whispered. "I can only pray he stays dead."

* * *

"Okay, Seven Swordsmen." Sasori read pulling up something on the screen so Kakazu and Itachi could see. Their picture was the first thing, a black and white album cover of the group of seven musicians standing alongside each other. Each with a different style of sword in their hand, at their side, or over their shoulder. " Rock band blah blah blah, rotating members blah blah blah, Formed about seven years ago in…Huh." Sasori's lips curled. "Russia."

"I don't see any Asians in the photo." Kakazu pointed out. "Nor our blue bastard."

It was true, none of the performers looked all that much similar to them, each being either white, black, but not blue.

"He could've adopted a henge." Sasori reasoned. Itachi shook his head.

"I doubt it. Kisame was never a fan of disguises. Never used them unless ordered to. He liked to talk to people as he was."

"He always did have a speck more honesty than the rest of us." Kakazu said agreeing with Uchiha. "So what then? He the manager?"

"Any former members? He did in fact leave the same group back home." Itachi pointed out.

Sasori's fingers went to work and soon several new pictures flew onto the screen. "Ok. A few. Roy got kicked out, Jeric left to form a band of his own, Ivan's come down with some sort of sickness, and Drago…..took a vacation about three months ago." A hopeful shine morphed into Itachi's eyes that Sasori felt the need to quell. "Don't get excited. Odds are all of this is a coincidence. Besides, it doesn't say where."

"Kakazu's been living here for decades without your knowledge." Itachi pointed out looking over to the masked man. "Who's to say Kisame hasn't either?"

"A band though? A semi-successful one at that?!" Sasori half chuckled. "That's what the famous Monster of Kiri has decided to do with his new life?"

"Can't you just hack their personal computers?" Kakazu asked. "Would make our jobs a whole lot easier."

"Oh sure. I'll just type some number in on the screen and magically I'll have them." Sasori replied scowling at the mercenary.

"What? That's how it works in the movies." Kakazu replied.

"I've already tried." Sasori explained "The second Itachi sprang this on me. Problem is the band's old school. No social media accounts, no email, and the time it would take to figure out each's phone number..."

"Just pull up some pics of Drago, and let's see." Kakazu interrupted with a sigh. Sasori did just that. Pulling up a few pictures of a tall man with dark skin similar to those of Kumogakure. His bearded face held no resemblence to the man each of them knew but Itachi did note that he his grin looked distinctly sharklike in appearance.

"What do you think Itachi?" Kakazu asked. Itachi gave a short nod.

"We need to find out where he took a vacation to. And the band will know where."

"Well, that's going to be a problem." Sasori said typing some more onto his keyboard. "They're in the middle of a tour right now."

"Anywhere nearby?" Kakazu asked.

"Nope. After this week, their going back to Russia." Sasori's eyes scanned throug the information on screen. "Their last major stop is the west coast. Jump City.

"And how far away is that?" Itachi asked.

"We can book a flight and get us there in a few hours." Sasori replied. "It'll cost some money but..." Kakazu's hand grasped his shoulder.

"Don't waste the energy. Flights in and out of the west coast need to be booked a few days in advance especially around the holidays."

"So what then? We visit him in Russia?" Sasori asked turning around to Kakazu. The mercenary shook his head.

"No. We'll just take my plane."

Packing went quickly and a quick call to Harley was all it took for transportation to the airport. Now, with suitcases in hand the three former shinobi stood out in the snow looking back at the former homeless ones.

"We'll be gone for a few days." Itachi said.

"You sure you don't need any help?" Wallace asked. "It'd be the least we could do..." Itachi held up a hand to stop him and smiled.

"Thank you but this is something we have to do ourselves. You all just stay here and try to turn your lives."

"Yeah, you can start by getting jobs that don't end with you getting shot or fed to sharks." Sasori grumbled to the four. Janice gave a quiet nod as did Paul who opened his mouth to give a reply.

"I'll get that roof fixed by the time you guys are back. Don't worry about it." Sasori nodded at Paul before moving out towards the driveway. Itachi did the same before being stopped by Frank.

"Hey, I'm not sure what you guys are doing out there but I noticed you talking about the Seven Swordsman..." He handed him Itachi a folded note. "If you can, give this to Vlad."

Itachi looked concern. "Vlad?"

"I met him back when I worked security." Frank replied. "Just, let him know I'm available if he or any of the band needs someone extra to watch his back."

Itachi nodded and put the note away. "Understood. But if you knew him why didn't you contact him sooner?"

"Because he hates me." Frank replied with a rather sheepish smile. " And while I'm not particularly fond of him either, I..."He turned back to Wallace, Paul, and Janice. "I can't really afford to be picky anymore." He sighed one final time before extending his hand. "I can't thank you enough for this Itachi. Really."

"Thank nothing of it." Itachi smiled taking his hand. "You keep them out of trouble until we get back."

A loud horn brought Itachi's attention back to the driveway where a limousine now resided. Itachi gave one last wave to the four and moved towards the car.

"Didn't interrupt anything did we?" Kakazu asked.

"Actually..."

"Didn't think so." Kakazu knocked on the dark window that seperated the driver from the rest of the limo. "Airport Quinn. You know where."

"Got it K." Harley's voice came back. As they sped down the road and Kakazu settled on taking a nap, Sasori tossed something at Itachi. Catching in a rather nimble fashion, he looked down and saw a small rectangular device with a pair of wire leading to ear plugs.

"I worked it up just before we left. Figured you'd like to hear what your friend's been up to. If it's indeed him." Sasori said. "It's a bit on the older side but it should be easier to use. Just hit the button with the triangle on it to hear Seven Swordsmen's music."

Itachi gave a nod of thanks to the redhead. "They've got a few originals like Sharkskin but they also did a few covers by some other artists...and you don't really care. Got it." Sasori sighed as Itachi had already begun listening. With his two associates now throughly in their own worlds, he simply opened his laptop.

"That was nice of you." The driver called back to Sasori. "And here I though K only hung out with assholes."

Sasori paused and shifted his eyes towards the front of the limo. He might as well ask why one of the most recognizable rogues in Gotham's history was friends with Kakazu. "Exactly what is your relationship with him Quinn?"

"Oh, K and I go way back. He was the original member of a group called Task Force X." Harley replied. "That's actually how we first met."

"And you worked well together?"

"Decently enough." Harley sped through a yellow light before continuing. "I always preferred working with some of the others but he and I got along ok." She took a moment before continuing. "Hey, I can trust you with this right? I'm not really allowed to talk about the Squad."

"Quinn I've been dealing with classified information all my life." Sasori said with a nod. "Last thing you need to worry about is me spilling secrets."

* * *

Jump city had been relatively quiet so far. No big villain launching a plan for domination or announcing the creation of a world ending device. Just a few attempted muggings that quickly went sideways when Beastboy and Raven showed up. But that was to be expected. The holidays always were a time of lesser crimes rather than big ones. It seemed even big bad guys needed some time off here and there. The two Titans themselves now sat on a rooftop as the afternoon sun floated high in the sky.

"Pretty nice day so far." Beastboy admitted.

"If this is your definition of nice. Yeah." Raven replied.

"What exactly is your definition?" Beastboy sighed. "Everyone covered in either black or blue hoodies and going around whispering "This day is pointless.' In a dreary monotone?"

"What's so wrong with that?" Raven asked back. "It would at least be more truthful."

"Yeah, but I don't think blue's my color and I can't pull off the "everything is pointless" look like you can." Beastboy replied looking back down towards the street to make sure they didn't miss anything. "This side looks clear. Any magic?"

"Not that I can sense." Raven said back after a brief search. She paused and looked back to her green friend. "What's with all the compliments recently?"

"What?" Beastboy tilted his head. "It's just that you pull off looks that I can't. Like if I tried to be cool, or mysterious, or sexy if wouldn't work nearly as well."

"Sexy?" Raven repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"It's...It's something you pull off kind of well." Beastboy reiterated though with a more strained voice. "We should probably keep moving." He morphed into a hawk and took off into the sky followed closely by Raven whose hood hid a small smile. The pair soared through the air looking down at their city below before Beastboy took note of a distinct sound coming from the nearby Titans Stadium. He had always thought it was cool the people had named the stadium after them but that was rather far from his mind right now.

"Hey, let's cut over the stadium."

"Isn't there a concert going on right now?" Raven asked.

"Yep! And I know these guys." Beastboy replied dashing over towards the air above. Raven followed suit and the two hovered a few feet above the top row staring down at what must've been twenty or thirty thousand people. A decent amount by all accounts. Raven thought before the music hit her. One of the band members down there, was playing the base like she'd never heard before. Squinting, she tried to see the source and saw it as one of the people on stage. A man slightly to the right of the main singer and sliding his hands up and down the guitar like an artisan working on a masterpiece.

"Who are they?" Raven asked setting herself down along the top row of seats.

"Seven Swordsmen." Beastboy yelled morphing back to his human form and peering down at the group with a smile on his face. "Remember a few months back when we met Red Star?"

"Yeah."

"Well, after he almost blew up, he gave me a CD of these guys." He pointed down towards the band. "And they're awesome!"

"I see." Raven nodded. She listened back as a the man's seemingly endless solo finally faded out. "One seems quite talented."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. HAMMER TO FALL!" The main's singer's voice cried out. A joyful roar rang out the crowd as the instruments kicked back up. The man who played base restarted his own with a renewed vigor and the notes of the famous Queen song suddenly erupted out into the stadium. Beastboy took note of Raven's foot lightly tapping as the music took to fruition.

"You're a fan already huh?"

"Don't you remember? You got me that best of Queen album a few years back." Raven replied as the lead started to sing in a voice that didnt quite match the late Mercury's but still blasted its way through the stadium.

"Holy crap, you actually listened to it?" Beastboy laughed. "I didn't think you liked upbeat stuff."

"...Every now and again." Raven said after a pause. "I uh...I never did thank you for it."

Beastboy waved her off. "Look, the last thing I want is for you to feel like your obligated to..."

"Thanks." She interrupted. Beastboy seemed to stunned to offer a reply so the two sat in silence as the concert below them raged on.

"I would ask where your tickets are but I don't want to ruin the moment." A new voice replied. The two turned to see a dark skinned man dressed in black pants a light blue jacket. He sported a pair of tinted black shades, dark blue gelled up hair and a rather thick beard similar to a Russian mountain man. He smiled at the pair and gave a hearty laugh. "Funny, I didn't think the Teen Titans were fans."

"Holy crap. Drago?" Beastboy asked. His smile increased two fold as the man nodded. "I thought you were on vacation."

"Officially I am." The man replied. "This is just me checking in on the others." He looked over to Raven who stood back with a wary gaze. "Something the matter miss?"

Raven's gaze didn't soften. "Don't take it personally. Just a little weird how someone who should be on vacation is watching his band perform."

Drago shrugged. "I gotcha. But like I said, I'm not officially here." He pointed down to the concert stage and the person playing the base. "Just wanted to see how the new guy's doing. Your take?" He asked.

"He's awesome!" Beastboy yelled out. Raven nodded and gave a thumbs up gesture.

"Really?" Drago asked surprised. "I thought he sounded a bit slow myself. Maybe my hearing's off."He said scratching his left ear. "So, what can I do for Jump city's heroes?"

"We just wanted to stop by and listen." Raven replied she gave a quick glare to Beastboy to remind him they had a job to do. "We'd better take off."

Drago nodded. "Ok, sure. Don't let me keep you." Raven took off back into the sky and Beastboy was right behind her morphing into a crow this time and following.

"Did that seem odd to you?" Raven asked.

"Should it have?" Beastboy cawed back. "He seemed like a nice guy."

"A nice guy who could easily sneak up on us, when we should have heard him a mile away." Raven pointed out. Beastboy didn't have to think about it long to realize that a regular guy really shouldn't be able to do that.

"Yeah, that does seem weird." Beastboy agreed. "You think, he's...AHRWA!" Beastboy's body lost all sense of feeling after being electrified by what looked like a whip. Said whip then pulled him out of the sky and sent him crashing onto a nearby building.

Not bothering to shout his name, Raven shot off towards her friend whispering the words she'd often say before an attack. "Azarath Metrion Zin-THA!" A powerful punch to the stomach stopped the words in her throat and soon she and a new figure fell from the sky and onto the same roof has Beastboy.

"Well, well." A particularly deep voice laughed as he looked at the magician. "Looks like Christmas came early." Raven's mind clicked on who it was when she's caught sight of the man's clossaul frame.

"Adonis..." She muttered.

Adonis gave her a dark smile. "In the flesh." He replied twisting his neck until a notable crack was heard.

"You see, Titans. Young Adonis has finally seen the light." Another familiar though older voice spoke, brining Raven's attention to it. She was greeted by a newly freed scientist dressed in his signature armor.

"Dr. Light."

"Correct." The doctor replied giving a sinister smile. "Normally, I'd want the pleasure of killing you two myself. But in the spirit of the holidays." He paused and stretched out his arms as several other figures suddenly appeared on the rooftop. Cinderblock, Mamoth, Simon Sez, Plasmus. All in all, six very dangerous criminals each with a certain hatred for the Titans. "I thought I'd be more generous to my friends here."

Raven's mind raced through a bunch of different escap scenarios as she tried to catch her breath. They needed an exit strategy now but nothing was likely going to work unless Beastboy regained consciousness and soon.

"Now then, how's about we start by..." Dr. Light's smile faded somewhat as he heard some newly arrived footsteps. He as well as the other villains and Raven looked to see someone who shouldv'e been back at the stadium.

"You know, It's funny." Drago said with a lack of a smile. "I'm not usually one to get involved in other people's fights. But..."He pointed to the prone body of Beastboy. "I like that kid." He stopped just a few feet away from the rogues and stared at each of them. Seemingly sizing them up, which to Raven didn't seem to make much sense and just put him in a dangerous situation.

"Listen, you need to get out of here. Call the police, they'll..." She started before a loud yell rang out from Cinderblock who charged at the man intent on not letting him do such a thing.

To Raven's horror Drago didn't bother moving and stood perfectly still as Cinderblock's fist came crashing down with what was definately an impact, but to everyone's surprise and especially Cinderblock's, Drago still stood there. His smaller hand effortlessly holding off Cinderblock's large boulderlike fist.

Drago sighed looking up to the villain. "I let you take the first shot and you give me THAT?!" His gaze hardened and Raven felt a bit unnerved at the grin that stretched across his face. "Now, I'm annoyed."

Poor Cinderblock didn't even know what hit him before blasting into the sky and falling to the street below. Drago looked to the others, "All right, who's next?"

* * *

The airport was about as crowded as you'd expect for Gotham City in the Holidays, packed traffic but still not quite as crowded as the airport itself. You would stand in line after line that would then take you to other lines that would eventually put you on your plane. Luckily, the former shinobi didn't have to deal with that. A quick glance from Kakazu to security allowed them to go to a private hanger away from the crowds.

"Exactly how much did it cost to get a plane again?" Itachi asked as they drove by the fenced off area.

"More than I care to admit." Kakazu rubbed his temple as he remembered the significant loss of money. "It was a good investment on my part, but still...money was lost."

"Yes, I can practically feel the loss." Sasori said shutting his laptop and getting a middle finger from the mercenary. The limo suddenly came to a screeching halt and he looked over to see Itachi had stiffened and his stare out the window had hardened.

"Uh, guys?" Harley's voice called back with a growing sense of alarm.

Sasori and Kakazu looked to each other then to the windows. Just outside stood Batman and two of the Bat Family, Wonder Woman, Huntress and Question. All standing out in the cold and directly in front of Kakazu's plane.

"Great. Because of course they'd know you have a plane." Sasori groaned.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, tada...Yeah, this really shouldn't have taken as long as it did. Sorry. I kind of got wrapped in things I shouldn't have but I'm feeling better and hopefully I can get back to writing. :)**

 **On a side note, If you listen to Hammer to fall by Queen listen to it live. It sounds a million times better.**

 **Anyway, Hope you guys enjoyed it and hope to see you guys next chapter. See ya.**


	14. Making Friends

"Heroes." Kakazu greeted nonchalantly, stepping out of the car. "Well isn't this a nice surprise. Batman, a pleasure." Kakazu waved to the the Dark Knight before looking to Huntress. "Bane give you any trouble?"

Huntress crossed her arms. "None more than usual, K." She scoffed. "Gonna clue us in on what your spat was about?"

Kakazu shrugged. "Not much to say without spilling national secrets. Bastard still felt sour over what happened in Juarez and thought he could take it up with me. " His eyes darted to each of them before continuing. "So, can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." Batman pointed to the limo. "You can start with the others in the car."

Kakazu looked back to the limo and grimaced. "It's a waste of time, they're nobody special."

"We'll be the judge of that." Wonder Woman said, losing her patience and walking right past K and over to the door. With a swift swipe, the door flew right off its handle and Diana saw who looked to be K's driver. "I'm not paying for that." Was K's only reaction to the heroine's destruction of property.

"Oh..." Harley's false smile hid a mini panic attack as she struggled to undo her seat belt. "Hi, miss Wonder."

"Hello, Harley." Wonder Woman greeted back. "How's probation been going?"

"Oh, you know... Could be better." Harley whimpered, finally undoing the strap that held her in place. "Trying to uh...turn my life around. Yeah."

Wonder Woman nodded in sarcastic understanding. "By becoming a driver for an international hitman?"

Harley replied pointing her finger at the Amazon and scowled. "I never said I was perfect. You try finding a good paying job as an ex-con as well-known as me with a rap sheet as long as your arm."

The sound of another door opening pulled Wonder Woman's attention away from her and back outside. She noticed another man of seemingly Asian descent step out of the car. His face not hidden by a mask like K, his features were much more easily distinguishable. He had jet-black hair that was pulled back in a low ponytail, his face framed with center-parted bangs that extended to his chin. A soft but pronounced well-shaped jaw line on what could only be described as a serious face, with two long tear-troughs that ran from the inside of his eyes down to the center of his cheeks. All in all, a man that Diana had no qualms with describing as a very handsome looking man. Clothed in just a simple black shirt and blue jeans. "Is there a problem?" He asked. And Diana was instantly aware that she was being sized up for combat, the way his eyes moved over her stopping only to designate where her weapons were was completely unlike the way most men 'appreciated' her appearance. And once she got a better look at his eyes, they told even more of a story about him. What must have once been bright onyx color that had dimmed in a way that only years of violence and horror could accomplish. The look within his eye was then matched by his whole body as he stood unnaturally still, with the grace of someone that was ready for even the slightest indication of attack that would then make him retaliate in kind.

"Not yet." Wonder Woman replied, scowling at the dangerous aura the man was emitted. "And you are?"

"Itachi!" Robin called out. He broke his glare from the Amazon to look at the one who called his name. He gave a wave and a small smile to the young crime fighter who reminded him of Sasuke when he was younger and less burdened by the world. Robin turned to his mentor with a grin. "See, I told you he was a good guy."

"Who can also breathe fire apparently." Batman reminded him. He turned his own glare onto the Uchiha who quickly matched it. "Itachi is it?" Batman asked, walking over to him. "I think I'm owed an explanation."

Itachi gave another quick glance to the Amazon before replying. "For what exactly?"

"Your little costume party back at Penguin's," Batgirl spoke up, walking beside Batman. "What exactly did you go undercover for?"

Itachi's reply was short and right to the point while turning to face Batgirl. "Rescue mission. Cobblepot had captured an associate of mine so I rescued him." He shifted back to Batman. "I used your likeness as cover to get in." He bowed his head to the dark knight. "If you took offense to this, I am sorry."

"If we can hurry this along?" A new voice said, getting out of the limo. His face was unnaturally pale and his long black hair shined under the sun." We actually have a concert to get to."

"A... concert?" Huntress repeated, making sure she had heard that right. "Who are you seeing?"

"Is that any of your business?" K asked back, crossing his arms. "All these questions, I'm starting to wonder if I should call Waller. Get her lawyers down here to speak for us."

"We're not..." Batgirl started before being silenced by a hand from Batman.

His cowl covered eyes scanned the four of them before settling on Kakazu. "Someone attacked Aquaman in Atlantis." The dark knight spoke with a grizzled voice.

K's cold chuckle visibly annoyed the heroes. "A superhero was attacked?!" He said in mock surprise with a light wave of his hand. "Someone call the Daily Planet."

Undeterred by the sarcasm, Batman pressed on. "He was of Asian descent and possessed an odd but highly dangerous set of special powers. Like you and your friend seem to."

The smallest of twitches began to form over K's right eye as he unconsciously began fearing for the worst. His hands fell back to his sides though as he kept his calm tone. "Well, that could be any number of people. Least of all..."

Batman had him now. One more piece of information should be enough to see if K or one of his associates knew anything about this particular individual. "Silver-haired, able to damage himself and others through some sort of voodoo doll technique..." Kakazu's response froze in his throat as Batman's words reached his ears. "...and extremely foul-tempered." Batman finished.

Itachi and the dark haired one kept their neutral faces but Kakazu's contorted in a whirlwind of expressions that not even his mask could hide from the heroes. "Perhaps we can talk for a moment or two before you set off?" Was Batman's response to K's facial twitches. Huntress beckoned him over and away from the limo. K looked to his associates and shrugged. Muttering a string of curses under his breath. " Fine. You've got ten minutes." He along with Batman, Robin, Question, and Huntress moved out towards the runway of the small airfield. "Yeah, I know the bastard. His name's Hidan."

"What can you tell us about him?" Batman asked.

Kakazu wasted little time. "Real screwed up in the head. Prayed to some sort of god and would sacrifice just about anyone that he crossed paths with to please him."

"One of those religious nuts, huh?" Huntress sighed crossing her arms. "That's all we need."

"He didn't seem to know who Batman, Wonder Woman or Aquaman were." Question spoke up, his hands in his trench coat pockets. "Any thoughts on that?"

"That doesn't surprise me," Kakazu replied. "He never paid much attention to current events. Or anything in general. The guy's so dense you'd have an easier time of explaining who the US President was to a headless chicken."

K then continued to rant about everything related to his former partner, without giving away anything to do with their former shinobi lives of course. Itachi meanwhile scanned the surrounding area again, his eyes dashing to the plane and then to the assorted heroes. Wonder Woman took notice of his analyzing and scowled with clenched fists. From what little he understood of planes, it wasn't feasible for them to make a quick escape while it was currently stationary. So if they did end up needing to make any sort of getaway it would have to be with their more traditional shinobi abilities. Not that such a situation was what he wanted, but it never hurt to have an exit when in such close proximity to potential adversaries. That and running wouldn't exactly put them in the best of light with the heroes going forward. But before Wonder Woman could say anything though...

"You needn't worry," Itachi spoke to the Amazon finally laying his eyes on her again. "I do not plan on making an escape."

Diana was more than a little surprised by this. "You think I'm worried?"

"You slowed your breathing when I exited the limo. The tone in your voice when you spoke to Ms. Quinn was one of certainty, telling me that you know not to fear her with your capabilities and experience. With me, you don't have that same level of familiarity, indicating that while you are confident in your abilities you do not want to fight against someone whose power is unknown. It is a commendable strategy for a warrior, one that many tend to overlook." She had felt no telepathic intrusion or pressure from the man, which meant he had been able to predict her thoughts just by observing her body language. Something that only truly dangerous and skilled men were capable of.

"I see." She said, unclenching her fists. "Itachi, was it? I heard you managed to take out a whole underground warehouse of Penguin's men and come out unscathed. You've been trained?" She asked, not really knowing what kind of answer to expect from the man.

Itachi gave a swift nod. "You're correct. My entire family has a long history working as police in various positions, my father was even in charge of my homes entire police force." He gave a slight smile. "I was brought up just as they were."

"To kill people?" Batgirl asked, remembering their previous conversation from a few nights before. Though she was momentarily stunned that apparently, he was the child of a Police Force Commander, just like she was. "What kind of police force does that?"

His response was almost dull in its certainness. "An effective one." He replied. Looking over to Batgirl with a narrowed gaze. "I never take pleasure in the action but sometimes it needs to be done."

"So you've killed people?" Diana asked the Uchiha, wondering if police weren't the word he was looking for. It was possible he meant his family was part of a people that were like the Amazons, where everyone was brought up in a para-military fashion and ready to kill for their safety. "Rather up front about it, considering who you're talking to. Did you serve in an army?"

Itachi paused and thought about her words. "You could say that," Itachi replied. "My family also had a tradition of military service. I joined up as well when I came of age."

To Batgirl, that was a much more inciteful explanation. A serviceman, probably special forces or even black ops. Which would explain how experienced in stealth and infiltration he appeared to be, what with how flawlessly he did it against Penguin. Still, the idea of his own parents teaching him how to kill people hung over her thoughts like an anvil. Before the conversation could go any further. The youngest of the heroes turned up in front of them, seemingly bored with whatever conversation Batman and Kakazu were having.

"So, you're police huh?" Robin asked, striding over to Diana's side. "Cool. You transfer over to Gotham PD?"

Itachi opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Sasori, still in his disguise who walked up to the group. "His days as a cop are well behind him. He works for me now."

The eyes of the Amazon fell to the third man from the limo who had up till now stayed out of the conversation, with a hint of annoyance she asked him. "And you are?"

The man pulled out a card from his pocket. "Orion Wilkins. Private Detective."

Wonder Woman swiped the card from the man's hand and looked it over. "It says here you're based in Jump City."

"I am," Orion responded. "I was here checking up on a client when I met up with Itachi and K. We were off to a concert when you saw fit to interrupt us. Which I'm still not sure exactly why you're bothering with."

"K seems to know of the man we met in Atlantis, Hidan," Diana responded. "He attacked one of our team members, so once we get what he knows we'll be out of your hair."

"What about Ms. Quinn?" Itachi asked, looking back to the blonde woman and her limo that now had a door removed from its side. "You did damage her car."

Diana scoffed and looked back to her as well. "You do know who she is, right? What she's done?"

Itachi paused, combing through the knowledge given to him by both Sasori and the internet. "I am aware of her past with the Joker. But from what I can tell, she hasn't committed any crimes or taken the lives of any innocents, especially not since her release."

"Not for lack of trying." Wonder Woman replied.

"Hey!" Harley defended. "I told ya I'm turning over a new leaf! I haven't talked to that shmuck in months and I've got a good gig now."

"Sure. C'mon Harley, who do you think your fooling with this…" Batgirl started before being interrupted.

"She's working for me," Orion responded, a little too quickly. Batgirl and Wonder Woman raised eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" Diana asked.

"She's agreed to take a security job with me as well as be my driver," Orion replied, shocking all of them, and especially Harley who had slinked over to his side away from Diana while also avoiding eye contact with the Amazon. He continued, "K recommended her to me, saying she had shown herself to be a great driver but that she was looking for more stable work than what he could give to her. And her repeated encounters with Batman speak for themselves concerning her ability to protect me."

Diana wasn't sure who this guy thought he was, but for some reason, he was quickly getting the better of the Amazon's temper while he was trying to defend Harley Quinn from her righteous fury. "Listen..."

"No, you listen." Orion cut her off, stepping towards her with defiance. "I don't know what your problem might be with K, but now it's effecting me by having you waste my time. I have a concert to get too and unless you've got a warrant to arrest me or want to try and stop me from getting on that plane, we're done here. K!"

The shout from nearby alerted all the heroes and Kakazu that the time for talking was over. "Right, back to it." K sighed. "That's really all I can tell you about the guy. As for where he went, that's up in the air. Anything else?"

Question and Huntress glanced at each other but remained silent as Batman gave the slightest of nods. "That should do for now. We'll be in touch."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," Kakazu replied just as the plane engines fired up. The group wasted little time boarding after that. Leaving the heroes to process the information.

"He didn't really tell us anything, did he?" Huntress sighed. "Immortal, foulmouthed, idiotic. It was more just a rundown of things he hates about the guy."

"Then shouldn't we have stopped them from leaving?" Batgirl asked.

"They weren't doing anything illegal." Question noted. "And K has some strong ties to Waller so that opens up a can of worms that I'd rather not delve back into." He rubbed his empty face in the recollection of the last time he had dug too deeply into situations involving Waller. Sure, that was a while ago now and had more to do with Luthor than her, but nevertheless, the point stood. "I suggest we send out a message to all Justice League members and associates to be on the lookout for this Hidan.

"That'll have to do," Batman replied, just as the Dark Knight accepted an incoming call from Alfred. "What is it?"

"Sir, master Dick is on the line for you."

Batman froze. He never got calls from Dick anymore. Not since the boy had gone off to form his own team in Jump City. "Patch him through."

A quiet line of static followed before Batman heard a voice he hadn't in years. "Bruce? You there?"

Batman had to fight back an urge to smile at the sound of his adopted son's voice. "Good to hear from you."

"Yeah, sure. You wanted to ask about our trip to Japan?" the Titans leader asked.

* * *

Once they were in the air and it didn't look like they were being followed by one of the heroes that could fly, Sasori undid his Henge no Jutsu. "Nice job Kakazu. Cool as a cucumber."

Kakazu's glared was so severe it could be seen through his hand. "Sasori, I don't need this right now." He growled out clenching his other fist so hard you'd think the bones in his fingers would snap from the pressure. "Thirty years. Thirty fucking years! And NOW he shows up?!" He dropped his hand from his face and looked to the redhead. "You're a smart guy. You tell me the odds of that happening now. Just after I meet you two and we find out where Kisame might be."

Sasori nodded and began going over the events of the past few days in his head as he sat down in an empty seat across the aisle from the money-obsessed bounty hunter. "I will admit, this is getting to be a bit strange. I was here for years as well and never came across any of our old group or anyone from our world until..." He paused and looked up to the Uchiha, who had been silent since they left the ground and sat down a few rows away from them, staring out a window.

Kakazu looked to Itachi as well then back to Sasori. "So, we only start meeting after he pops up, huh." Kakazu let out a light cold chuckle. "You think it's just pure dumb luck?"

"Fate worked in strange ways back home. I see no reason to think that it wouldn't do so here as well." Sasori shut his eyes and leaned back into his chair "By the way, just how well do you know Waller?"

"I told you." Kakazu leaned further back into his own chair. "Strictly business."

A cynical smile graced Sasori's lips. "You say that, but you seemed to be willing to call her when the heroes showed up. Can she be trusted?"

"Only idiots trust Waller." Kakazu groaned. "But she can be relied on if you get in a pinch and you can be useful to her. Why? What are you thinking?"

Sasori shrugged. "Just making note of allies and liabilities."

"Oh really, 'Orion'?" Kakazu chuckled. "Seriously, what kind of bullshit alias was that?"

Sasori blinked in surprise. "What's wrong with it?"

Kakazu's chuckle evolved into a light laugh. "I'd expect a guy named Orion to be running around with that Amazon out there, in nothing but a toga and glitter. It's the kind of name you hear yelled out in a gay bar when you want some entertainment. And not the classy types, either."

Sasori just looked annoyed with his former teammate's analysis of his Private Investigator alias "If you're done..."

"Actually, he's right." Harley's voice ran through his ear and Sasori looked at the woman who sat across the row from him. " Me and Ivy went down to this really seedy strip club once..."

"Why are you involving yourself in this conversation?" Sasori interrupted.

Harley scowled. "You brought me along, remember?"

"Don't remind me," Sasori replied closing his eyes. "You're free to get on another plane when we touch down in Jump City."

"Oh..." Her voice indicated she was a bit of disappointed. "Ok, then." She moved away from the two and sat further in the back.

"Going soft, Red?" Kakazu chuckled.

"She's a friend of yours," Sasori replied. "Just being courteous. So, I can trust you didn't tell the heroes anything compromising?" He asked, getting back on topic.

"Right... Sure, I gave them a brief rundown of Hidan's abilities. Immortal, good with weapons, don't let him drink your blood. They should be able to take care of him when they find him."

"Not interest in seeing your old partner again?"

Kakazu's answer was swift. "He can rot for all I care."

"Who's flying the plane?" Itachi suddenly asked. Sasori looked at the bounty hunter sitting next to him who snapped his fingers in realization.

"Oh, right. You haven't met." He reached up to the ceiling above his head and pressed a button. "X, get your ass out here."

"Sure thing, boss. "A slightly digitized voice replied as a new figure suddenly appeared in an empty seat across the aisle gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "Gentlemen, lady, meet Red X. " Kakazu gestured to the figure. He was a decent sized young man. Lean and muscular and wearing a black suit with grey gloves and belt and a skull insignia for a mask, marked with his trademark red x on his forehead. "I take it the auto-pilot is on?" Kakazu asked.

Red X nodded. "Yeah, and the scanner's show the League didn't follow us. We're good to go." He looked to the other occupants in the room briefly before continuing. "So, what's this about a concert?"

* * *

With Cinderblock out of the picture and not looking like he was getting up anytime soon, Drago's next target was the armored one called Adonis. To his credit, Adonis took the initiative. Charging at the man who had sent Cinderblock crashing down to the street below with raised fists that Drago didn't even try to dodge. One punch after another fell on the man, each sending out a small shock wave that rung the ears. Adonis naturally took this as a sign that he was inflicting some real pain on the guy, seeing him even stumble back after one final blow to the stomach. Drago, who had remained strangely silent up until that point, looked up to his opponent with a frown. Clearly unimpressed.

Adonis charged again, this time raising both hands over his head with the intent on sending the man straight down through the building itself. When the impact came, what was supposed to be Drago's head underneath his combined fists was instead his opponents upwardly stretched hands. "What's wrong?" Drago growled. "Don't tell me that's all you got."

Thunderous footsteps from behind let Drago know of another attack coming. Which proved true when Mammoth's fists slammed into his back. Or rather, should have.

"There we go. Teamwork." Drago smiled, now just using one hand to hold back against Adonis's attack and the other hand to halt Mammoth's fists. Mammoth, who wasn't exactly known for his strategy skills in the first place, proved ill-prepared for what followed. The hand of Drago's that was providing the stopping force against his giant fists suddenly disappeared and then it shot upwards to his arm, gripping it tight he was suddenly pulled towards Drago. A thunderous 'SMACK' echoed out as Drago's head slammed into Mammoth's knocking the dim-witted giant out cold before he then looked back to Adonis just in time to see a kick coming straight for him. This time, he sidestepped the attack and watched as Adonis began to fall forward right past him only to be stopped when Drago grabbed the same leg that had been aimed at him. "A bit slow, buddy. Need to work on your speed." He then heaved Adonis into the air and slammed him down onto the roof with more strength than the man's frame let on, he then proceeded to slam the man back and forth into the roof in an almost arc like direction 4 more times. Before finally tossing him down to the street right next to Cinderblock where he landed on his back indenting into the pavement. All Drago could think was, "Adonis huh, puny God".

"How about you purple?" Drago asked, pointing at the massive creature with green eyes whose whole body seemed to be made out of some strange goop. Plasmus let out a roar, and much like the other two before it stupidly ran towards Drago. Only this time, Drago's fist didn't seem to do much damage, merely being absorbed by the creature who then swiped at him. Drago raised an arm to block the attack, but his body suddenly froze before he could finish blocking. Drago's eyes darted to the only two people that could be responsible, the other present villains. One still held the two Titans in some sort of energy bind so clearly wasn't focusing on manipulating his reactions, while the other's body was glowing in an unnatural shade of pink and black. 10,000 Ryo on saying that he was the one responsible for his apparent paralysis, something similar though not exactly the same as the Nara Clans Kagemane no Jutsu. Nevertheless, Drago still kept his smile as the swipe came smashing into him and knocked him into one of the large pieces of machinery on the building. Plasmus followed his prey as did the pink glowing one who Drago now remembered was called Psimon, with a silent 'P' of all things. But as he was pulling himself out of the indentation he had made into the roof's machinery he sensed a distinctly foreign presence in his mind. 'Aha!' Drago thought, so he was some kind of mind invasion specialist like the Yamanaka Clan was, well then, he knew exactly what to do.

Psimon meanwhile was just eager to cause some damage to the man who had thrown himself between him and his vengeance against the Titans, seemingly on a whim for the little green shapeshifter because he was a 'fan', whatever that meant. But to his shock, while he was getting ready to lobotomize the bearded man a bright light and burning pain washed over him. When he finally regained his sight and the initial pain had faded, he found the street and city buildings that had surrounded them had completely vanished. Replaced with a dark purple void that seemed to stretch on endlessly in every direction.

"Mind tricks huh?" Drago's spoke with his voice also echoing in Psimon's mind. The psychic immediately began to panic, completely unprepared for someone who seemed to be pure brute strength to have such a strong mind proficient in the mental arts. Even stumbling around in the purple void that was his psyche. This shouldn't have been possible. He had sensed no magic from the man nor a release of energy that would have caused such a dramatic reversal of his mental intrusion.

Within the astral plain, a single figure appeared in front of him, but it wasn't the same man who they had been fighting. This thing was blue-skinned with gills on the sides of his neck. Eyes as dead as a shark, and teeth that were probably sharper than a Great Whites. The demonic beast wrapped his fingers around Psimon's throat, before giving a demonic smile that made it took like he wanted to use his teeth to tear Psimon's head off before continuing in Drago's distinct voice. "Sorry, but I worked with someone who was a lot better at these things than you. He taught me a few countermeasures..."

The screams that Psimon suddenly began to let out were unnerving, to put it mildly, not just to Raven but her captor as well. "Psimon, what's wrong?" Dr. Light called out to the psychic who gripped his head in agony as tears began to stream down his face before he abruptly fell to the ground and started to throw up. That distraction was all Raven needed. Her eyes flashed white, and a halo of black energy exploded outwards shattering the bubble encapsulation that held her and Beast Boy into pieces. Not a second later, Beast Boy's eyes sprung open and he shot towards the doctor, taking on the form of a wolf. The light turned away from Psimon, who had begun to calm down, and just in time to push back the charging Beast Boy and stop a wave of magic from Raven from hitting him. As the three dueled atop the building, Drago meanwhile was regaining his senses just in time for another powerful punch to smash into his face. Courtesy of Plasmus. The guitar playing rock star was thrown backward off the roof towards the street below but quickly oriented his body to catch himself on the side of the building opposite where the Titans were currently fighting Dr. Light. Drago then dropped the rest of the way down to the street, landing on top of a parked car which was thankfully empty. Plasmus decided to follow him down from atop the building with a giant screech and a resounding crash upon his impact a few hundred feet away from where Drago had landed.

The monster let out another roar that scared away any the few remaining people lingering around that hadn't immediately taken off when the Cinderblock had fallen to the street. Drago shook his head as he stood back up from the previous punch from the sludge villain. This creature had strength, but no refinement or technique. Yet another disappointment. Plasmus wasted no time in charging yet again towards what he somehow still saw as his prey while Drago turned his eye to a nearby fire hydrant sitting across the street. His sharpened teeth gleamed, and he looked back to the charging purple brute. It was time to end this. Plasmus had finally gotten close enough to get ready to hit Drago again when he suddenly made several signs with his hands and a torrent of water blasted out of the hydrant towards the creature. Just before making an impact, the water morphed into the form of a colossal shark, increasing the striking power behind it tremendously as chakra was further infused with it.

"Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu. " Drago whispered just as the attack found its mark. The impact was enough to send the beast spiraling back across the road and plowing through a series of abandoned cars before finally stopping against a huge waste hauling truck. The following explosion would bathe everything within 40 feet in flames but which were soon extinguished as the remaining water from the attack began to fall back over the street. After wiping some water off his glasses, Drago walked over to where the creature now lay and saw instead of a large pile of purple goop, a battered and bruised man who looked like he had just decided to take a nap in the middle of a small crater. A whole pool of purple muck surrounded him, and Drago sighed with the smallest amount of pity. This poor bastard really needed to try and learn to control his apparent abilities or this kind of beatdown was something he would have to get used to.

With the three apparent heavy hitters of the group dealt with, he looked back up to the building just as the good doctor leaped off, using some sort of rope made of light which wrapped around a street lamp and allowed him to descend down safely but quickly to the ground. He still stumbled a little when his feet made contact with the street and let out a nervous growl, giving Drago the impression that things weren't going quite the way he had planned if he had abandoned his group's psychic to his fate on the rooftop. "Damn it all!" He shouted with hateful glare up to the roof. "This was supposed to be easy!

"Having a little trouble, Doctor?" Drago asked with a cold chuckle. "Because if that's the best plan you came up with to kill them, I'm questioning just where exactly you got your degree from."

Dr. Light tore his eyes away from the roof and focused squarely on the man who had completely ruined his plan. The rope/whip of light starting to crackle with more and more energy before the solid yellow color began to turn blue. "You..." His voice held nothing but pure rage for Drago. Then with a yell and an action that would haunt him for the rest of his life, Dr. Light launched his whip towards the man. When it made an impact, a bright electric shockwave rocked the entire area, making use of all the water that Drago had used earlier and frying the bearded meddler into a nice black corpse.

Or at least, it should've. Drago's cold, cruel laugh rang through Dr. Light's soul as Drago held onto his electrified whip like it was a glorified piece of string. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" Drago yelled out with a vicious smile as he began walking towards the doctor with the whip in hand. "No more love taps or mind games. Someone finally going in for the kill!"

The good doctor was by this point dumbfounded to the point of paralysis. This shouldn't be happening! This nobody had just shown up out of nowhere and taken his vengeance from him. And now he stood just a few feet away laughing off a colossal amount of electrical energy that had to be coursing through his body. And with each step, the man took he began to appear less and less human, and more and more demonic. His eyes going from an average human coloring to some kind of cold lifeless void that only exists in the kind of species that eat their own young if they can. And when he finally stood right in front of him, a primal but fundamentally unnatural and palpable aura of danger flooded the air. "All right doctor, here's a question for you," Drago said while letting the whip fall from his right hand to the ground before then shooting his left hand out to grab the doctor by the neck, hoisting him up into the air. "How much do you know about human anatomy?" He asked, putting just enough on the man's throat to stop him from answering. When all Light managed to do was spit out distorted gasps, Drago shook his head. Clearly, the guy hadn't realized that it was a rhetorical question. "I see. Well lucky for you, I'm somewhat of an expert of the subject. And I can tell you..." Each finger slowly tightening around the man's neck with each syllable."...it really doesn't take a lot to bust someone's windpipe."

"Drago!" Beast Boy called out to the man from above. That, and the nearby sound of sirens stopped him from adding the last bit of necessary pressure to crush Dr. Light's airway, Drago let out a long sigh as he pulled the still squirming doctor closer to his face. "Lucky bastard." He whispered before giving a head-butt knockout. The poor doctor instantly collapsed to the ground, blood leaking out of his broken nose just as Raven and Beast Boy landed beside him, Raven's magic cloaking the unconscious Psimon in a thick black magic straight jacket that also had clasps over his mouth.

"Hey, kids." Drago smiled. "You OK?"

Beast Boy returned the gesture with a small grin while Raven nodded. "Shouldn't we be asking you that?" She asked, looking over the burnt, ripped clothes of the man before her and noticing that he was otherwise unharmed beyond the destruction of his apparel. "You took down five super villains by yourself and threw out Psimon from your mind." She looked over to the unconscious psychic. "That's not exactly an easy thing to do."

"Ha!" Drago crossed his arms in a gesture of disappointment. "He's nothing, really. I could tell you stories of a truly dangerous mind wrecker..." He frowned and let out a sigh. "Some other time. Right now, I'd get that guy in a cell or something." He looked around to his other victims. "All of them, actually."

Raven wasted no time in doing just by flying to the other downed villains and scooping them up with her magic, all that while Beast Boy looked back to Drago because he just had to acknowledge something he had overheard from his conversation with Light.

"You weren't serious, right? About, what you said to the Doc" Beast Boy asked Drago with a nervous chuckle. "Just a little something to intimidate him and keep him out of trouble for a while, right?"

Drago's teeth gleamed under the sunlight and he patted Beast Boy on the shoulder. "Sure, kid." The sound of an incredibly loud revving engine drew their attention to Cyborg who was now pulling up in his prized 'T-Car', getting out too quickly surveying the damage, as well as the police who were being helped by Raven to pick up the, would be 'Titan Killers' to move them into secure transport vehicles. "Guess, I was worried for nothing." He chuckled before setting his eyes on the older man. "Hey, Beast Boy, this guy help with the fight or something?" Observing the man's torn up clothes but completely calm casual demeanor at being surrounded by so much destruction.

Beast Boy looked about ready to explode he answered so quickly. "Helped? The dude practically kicked all these guys buts single-handedly. He was all cool like I'm not one to get involved in other people's fights." Drago tuned the green shapeshifter out for a minute while he took the time to observe the total damage that he had caused with his little scuffle. It wasn't really bad all things considered, for a battle that took place literally in the middle of a highly populated urban setting he had been downright tame in his use of destructive attacks. But it looks like Beast Boy was wrapping up his summary of the fight, complete with sound effects and wild hand waving.

"And then Drago straight up head-butts Light, and the guy goes down like a sack, no way he is getting up anytime soon." Beast Boy said, finally completes his story with.

"Well I guess we owe you one, it was really cool of you to step in to help Raven and Beast Boy against guys that were that strong. But I have to say I never would have expected a world-famous professional guitar player like you to have powers capable of taking down all those heavy hitters. So thanks, Drago."

Drago raised an eyebrow. "More than one Titan a fan?" He asked putting his hands in what remained of his pants pockets.

"Nah." Cyborg shook his head. "I just scanned through the internet for you when I saw you from the car."

"Oh, is that all?" Drago laughed, extending his hand. "I guess that other eye of yours must come in pretty handy then."

Cyborg's frown lasted for maybe a second or two before turning into a small smile and letting out a chuckle. He shook Ivan's hand. "Gotta admit, most people don't tend to make jokes when they see that kind of stuff up close and personal."

"I'm not most people," Ivan replied. He looked around at the surrounding property damage and let out a sigh. "But you all probably know that now."

"Have you always been this strong?" Cyborg asked.

"It took a while," Drago replied, looking up to the sun. "If you ever catch me with a drink, maybe I'll tell you about some of it." He turned away from the duo. "I better get going."

"You sure?" Raven asked as she drifted back over to the group having delt with the 6 villains. "I mean you just saved us and you're leaving?"

"Don't you heroes do it all the time?" Drago asked back lowering his shades and looking back at the three with pure white eyes. "Besides, I'm on vacation and I'm hungry. "

He bent his legs, ready to leap off when Beast Boy spoke up again. "Wait! Let us buy you some food then, our treat."

Drago didn't look like he was gonna respond when he suddenly let out a laugh and stroked his beard. He turned back around to the Titans. "All right. But I hope you've got deep pockets. I'm feeling a little famished."

* * *

 **A/N: And I think I'll call it there. Sorry, it took so long, but once again life decided to throw itself into my life and let me deal with a few things. Oh well. Anyway, Glad to see you guys throwing out suggestions. I'll definitely take it under advisement.**

 **Special thanks to Naruto9tail for being a badass beta and for helping get this chapter written.**

 **See ya later.**


	15. Maybe it's Time

"Jump City?!" Ivy's voice came through Harley's phone like a hammer. "I thought you said you were taking them to the airport!"

"I know, red." Harley whimpered, trying to calm Ivy back down. "But the League showed up looking for K, and then this guy turns into another guy and says he's hired me."

Ivy's voice took on a confused tone. "You're with Clayface?"

Harley shook her head even though Ivy couldn't see it. "No, it's one of K's friends."

"K has friends?"

Harley smiled. "I know, it's weird."

Harley could hear the echo of a laugh over the phone but knew Ivy would quickly focus back. "That aside. I don't like the idea of you going off on some adventure right now. Especially without me."

"Trust me, the sooner I can make it back home the better." Harley sighed. "The League's onto these guys for something and I don't want to get mixed up in it. How's Z doing?"

"Just wondering where you are," Ivy replied, looking over to Z sitting quietly in front of the tv. "You want me to put him on the phone?"

"No. I'll be back to talk to him soon enough." Harley sighed. "I'll call you when we're settled. See ya, Red." Harley said before the line was disconnected. Once the conversation was over, Harley banged her head on the passenger seat in front of them wondering just how the hell she got roped into going across the country. Just then, the distinct wispy sound of Red X appearing to her right caused her to groan.

And then there's this new guy, She thought. "Ya looking at something, skull-boy?"

Red X shrugged his shoulders "Just wondering why Joker's rebound girl is here?"

Harley's face went red with rage. "Rebound girl?!"

Red X shrugged his shoulders again. "He's clearly got the hots for Batman, so...yeah." Red X replied.

"That's..." Harley paused and once again hit her head on the seat in front of her. "...not actually far off." She looked back up to him with a curious blink of the eyes as her anger dissipated. " I went with them to avoid the League. How'd they drag you into this?"

"I work for him...sometimes." Red X replied pointing towards the sitting bounty hunter. "Whenever I need the money and he needs a job done. These last couple of times, I've been flying helicopters and planes. Figured I'd join in and head back to Jump City for the holidays."

"Got some friends out there?"

"Just some people I like to annoy." Red X laughed. "I was hoping this was gonna be an easy job then I saw the League turn up." He looked back over to Kakazu. "Just what the hell do they want with him, you think?"

Harley looked over to K as well. "Well, he used to work for the government so it could be any number of things."

"K was a spy?" Red X sounded surprised.

Harley's smile darkened. "No, we were a little more hands on." She had barely finished her words before K got up from his chair.

"Real good at keeping quiet, aren't you Quinn?" He grumbled as he moved further up the rows and away from the two.

Harley shrugged. "Asshole."

"Yep." Red X nodded in agreement.

* * *

Itachi's stare out the window continued unabated even as Kakazu walked over and sat down right across from him. "You don't look that happy."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"About finding the blue bastard?" Kakazu elaborated. "You two always seemed to get along. So I figured you'd be happier about finding him."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Did I ever appear to be an emotional person?" He asked.

"Fair point," Kakazu replied, annoyed. "I'm just saying, out of all of us you two were a pretty good team."

Itachi's eyes lingered on the window before looking at the bounty hunter. "He was my friend. I didn't have many of them."

Kakazu leaned back in his chair and pondered. "I don't know. Having friends always felt like leaving an opening to be stabbed in the back later on in life."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Personally, no." Kakazu shook his head. "I was usually the one doing the stabbing." He looked back to Sasori who was still hard at work on his laptop. " And it's not like any of us were that social, anyway."

Itachi tilted his head at the bounty hunter. "Is there a point to this conversation, Kakazu?"

"Fine." Kakazu sighed. "I'll cut to the chase. Let's say we get to Jump City and find Kisame. What happens next?" Itachi narrowed his gaze as Kakazu continued. "Are you just looking for a friend, so you don't have to be alone here, or do you have a larger plan going on in that clan-killing head of yours?"

Itachi bit his lower lip in frustration at Kakazu's words but also knew that he wasn't technically wrong. He hadn't really been giving much thought to what he was going to do now. He looked back towards Kakazu. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Kakazu shrugged. "So no plan. Can't say I'm surprised. Coming back from the dead in a completely different world wasn't part of my long term goals either." He sighed and decided it was his turn to look out the window. "We could form our own mercenary company. Make a lot of money that way."

"You still want to keep fighting?" Itachi asked, almost disappointed.

Kakazu looked stunned by the Uchiha's question. "Fighting's what we're good at." He stated bluntly. "And if you're good at something, you should never do it for free."

Itachi blinked at the bounty hunter before looking away. "No interest in going back home?"

"None," Kakazu said with a shake of the head. "And I can't believe you asked that, after dying twice back in the Nations." He paused and narrowed his gaze on the Uchiha. "You did get resurrected for the war right?"

Itachi's eyes returned to the bounty hunter. "I did."

"You get sealed up too?" He continued.

Itachi shook his head."No. I helped break the jutsu and return us to the dead." He had to fight back a light chuckle. "Seemingly anyway."

Kakazu's eyes widened slightly, clearly impressed. "Damn. So the guy that betrayed Sasori gets betrayed by own soldier. That's ironic. Speaking of which..." He looked over to the former puppeteer. "Hey, Sasori. Any big plans for if we find Kisame? You want to get the band back together?"

The typing redhead looked didn't look away from his screen. "I want answers to how we ended up here. It's possible Kisame might have them." He then looked up to the pair. "And if we could please keep the puns to a minimum. I'm sure once we reach Jump City, Kisame will have too many for us to count."

"Logical as ever." Kakazu sighed. He crossed his arms. "I don't see why it matters. We're back to life and in a new place free from our pasts. Seems like a pretty good deal to me."

"I've been meaning to ask." Itachi looked over to Sasori. "Why do you have an alias for Jump City?" Itachi asked the puppeteer. "I thought you spent most of your time in Gotham."

Sasori froze for a brief moment before continuing. "I have. But on occasion, I have traveled to the West Coast. To enjoy the fresh air."

The mercenary smiled under his mask. "Fresh air?" Kakazu repeated.

"Leave it, Kakazu," Itachi ordered. "If it doesn't involve us, we don't need to know."

"It doesn't." Sasori's answer was too quick not to be suspicious but it seemed he didn't care what the other two of them thought about it. "The point is, I have a condo we can stay in."

Sasori could almost see a smile under Kakazu's mask."Excellent, I don't have to pay for a hotel. Bastard owners always gouge their prices this time of year."

Kakazu's voice started to fade as Itachi noticed that the previously clear if cloudy skies were starting to look whiter and whiter. "It's snowing?"

"Probably passing over Kansas," Sasori replied. "They're always in the middle of a storm, this time of year."

* * *

The sunset was barely visible through the snow clouds that lingered over Smallville. The few sprinklings of light that did reach through swept through the town. Coating it a bright surreal color that Konan wasn't sure if a name existed for it. To be truthful, she had been having a hard time finding the words for anything the last few days. The town of Smallville and it's a stark contrast with Amegakure. The Kents and the kindness she had received since arriving here. The inquisitive and spirited Lois Lane and the subdued but honest Clark promising to help her whenever she needed it. It was almost overwhelming when she thought about all the kindness she had been shown. Especially after all she had done back home.

She tensed up yet again, and for a brief moment, she could feel Tobi's hand ensnare her throat like a vice. Her breath slowed and she tried to focus as her windpipe began to strain. She should've been able to stop him. The man she and Nagato had thought was the true way to peace in the world had been manipulating them from the start and only when her best friend had perished, did she realize they had been wrong. So when the bastard turned up wanting Nagato's eyes, Konan broke out all the stops to try and kill him. But even then, it hadn't been enough. He had survived and now...

She struggled to think about what that monster was doing back in the Elemental Nations. No doubt he would go after Naruto just as she and Nagato had but his goals wouldn't end there. She needed to get back home. The problem was, she had no earthly idea on how to do that. And the last thing she wanted to reveal to the people who had been so kind to her was what she really was and what she had done.

"You clearly like the roof," Clark replied. Floating up to her side from the snow below. He was dressed in a brown jacket and blue jeans with a bright red scarf around his neck below his glasses. "You ok?" He asked when he noticed her tensed up.

"Just...some bad memories," Konan replied as she finally felt the pressure on her neck fade. She looked out passed the Kent barn and to the rolling fields that surrounded their home. "I can't thank your parents enough for being so kind to me."

"They're the best parents I could've ever asked for. That's for certain." Clark replied with a smile. "You've been quiet since this morning. Something on your mind other than memories?"

"I wish I knew how I got here," Konan admitted. "The last thing I remember was blacking out and..." She looked up to the sky and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "I failed someone I promised to protect. And now I don't know what I'm going to do."

The defeat in her voice was almost unnerving to hear. Especially to someone as hopeful and optimistic as Clark. "You told me you were a part of a group earlier in life," Clark replied, remembering their previous talk. "Do you think you could track one of them down? Maybe they'd know more."

Konan shook her head. "I'm quite sure they're all dead. And even if they weren't...I'm not sure they'd be happy to see me again. Or vice versa."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two as Clark struggled with finding the right thing to say. He didn't think a Superman-style speech on not giving up was gonna work all that well here. He then thought of something else. Something that always got him in a better mood, ever since he was a kid. He just needed to understand one more thing about this girl before he asked.

"How do you keep getting up here, by the way?" Clark asked. "You got super jumping or something?"

"I can fly," Konan replied. As she spoke, large wings made up of hundreds of pieces of paper began to materialize on the back of her clothes. "I've been low on chakra for past few days, but I'm slowly getting back to where I used to be.

While filing away the word 'chakra' for a later date in his mind, Clark's smile grew. "Cool. If you're up for it, I say we play a game of fly-football for a while. It usually clears my head so maybe it will help with yours."

Konan thought for a moment. "Fly-football?" She asked.

Clark smiled. "It's not as cool as it sounds, mainly we just head up and into the clouds and toss a football around. Try and do some tricks to show off."

Konan knew he was attempting humor but she also thought about this practically. Flying in the snow would be something new and maybe it would help clear her head so she could better think on ways to get home. She gave a swift nod and Clark immediately dove off the roof and ran into the house. He returned not a second later with a strange oval shaped ball in hand. Without another word both of them began floating into the air. Clark kept glancing at her for any signs of fatigue but she seemed fine so he upped the speed a little bit. She followed suit. Not long after that, The two shot off into the clouds, blazing through the waves of falling snow and like it wasn't even there.

"You're okay with it getting colder, right?" He yelled back to her. Konan didn't even try to reply with all the wind blowing around them and instead kept following him. They flew for a few more seconds until they finally passed through a particularly long stretch of grey cloud and came to a clearing in the sky. The sun shined down from above and Clark finally turned back to face Konan. He tossed the football into the air and it landed on back in his hand. "Catch." He said tossing it to her.

Konan stretched out her hand and caught it yet was surprised at how fast it had flown in a perfect spin through the air. She examined the object then looked back to Clark. "You didn't use your super strength."

"I toned it down as much as I could." Clark sighed. She tossed the football back to him with a little less finesse than he to her but he caught in nevertheless. "Out of all the gifts I have, my muscles tend to annoy me the most."

Konan thought back to the previous weeks and where she had seen him as Superman stopping incredibly powerful foes with little more than a finger flick. "Why is that?"

"I used to be a pretty hands-on guy when I was younger. Handshakes, hugs, pats on backs, that was me." Clark replied, flipping through the air and catching the ball in his arms. "You can imagine the problems that might arise for someone to do that when he has enough natural strength to bend steel at twelve."

The ball came whizzing back to Konan who took the information in stride. "And you've only gotten stronger since?" She asked.

"Yep." He replied, catching the ball with his left hand.

Konan nodded and continued to think as Clark decided to put a bit more power into his throws. The ball soared over Konan's head but she was quickly after it. She caught it after flying another fifty feet into the air and flew back down before tossing back."How strong would you say you are now?"

Clark clicked his tongue as the ball flew straight at his chest. "I don't really know. My friends joke that I can bench press a planet but I doubt it's that bad." He caught the ball and tilted his head. "Why do you ask?"

"It's good for someone to know their limitations," Konan replied. "It puts things in perspective."

Clark gave a thought to Bruce and his philosophy on limitations. "A friend of mine would argue it's better to not know your limits."

"So what would happen on the day that your friend finds out what they are?" Konan asked, remembering what happened to Nagato when he went up against the Kyuubi.

"I'll let you ask him that sometimes," Clark replied with a laugh.

Clark's smile proved infectious and Konan gave a small chuckle. "My friends didn't think they had limits. They thought they could do anything, and when they finally realized that they did, it was too late." Despite the sadness of her words, Clark could tell she was remembering the fun times she had with them. "What were their names?" He asked.

"Nagato and Yahiko," Konan replied, quickly wiping away what might've grown into a tear from her eye. "I don't want you to make the same mistake as we did."

"Tell you what." Clark gave a cocky smile. "I'll put about two percent power into this throw and you can see if you gauge my limits from it."

"Why only two?" She asked.

"Anymore and the ball will break," Clark replied simply. He stretched his arm back and gave a yell. "You better start flying back."

Konan did as she was told, flying back for several seconds until he was no longer visible. She then heard what sounded like a yell of "GO LONG!" Before a shockingly fast object zoomed past her and tore a visible path through the air and into the far off clouds. She was after it instantly. Blazing through clouds and snow trying to keep a vague outline of the object as it continued on unabated. She decided now was a good time to test her own limits and push her chakra to the max. Increasing her speed and finally closing in on the ball. It had started going down now but she wasn't going to let that stop her. With one last burst of energy, Konan's speed matched that of the ball and she reached out and grabbed it.

With a satisfied grin and a few breaths of relief, Konan started to fly back the way she came but a loud droning noise soon drowned out her thoughts. The noise increased in power and Konan barely had enough time to glide out of the way of a small plane that would have most assuredly flown through her. Konan kept her grip on the ball and scowled at the object but did have to admit her curiosity did outweigh her annoyance. This was the first time she had seen an airplane this close and she figured she might as well fly closer to get a better look.

By no means a slow object, the plane didn't match the speed Clark's football had mustered so catching up with it wasn't too hard for Konan. Still, despite the slower speed, Konan did have to admit being in awe of the ingenuity of this land's people. While some like Clark seemed to have gifts that allowed them skills similar to that of trained shinobi, Regular humans without the use of chakra had also mastered the ability to fly. Now the activity was little more than a carriage ride to them.

Flying up to the side, Konan wondered whom she would spot in a window. Lois had talked a lot of families flying to different places over the holidays so Konan was a little surprised when she saw only one face visible through the window. Thanks to the snow, she didn't get more than an outline but he/she seemed hunched over in his seat. A moment later, the figure cocked their head to the window seemingly out of annoyance and froze. Konan took that as a sign that she'd been spotted. She gave a wave and vanished from sight.

"Sasori?"

The puppeteer looked back to the bounty hunter with a shocked face. "Did anyone else see that?" Sasori asked.

The question caught all the occupants by surprise. "See what?" Itachi asked.

Sasori blinked a few times and looked back out the window for a moment, when the figure didn't reappear, he let out a sigh. "I thought, I just saw Konan."

If by some chance he didn't have the full attention of Itachi or Kakazu before, he had it now. "Right outside the window?" Kakazu asked.

Sasori nodded. "I'm not sure if she recognized me but she gave a wave."

"X, where are we?"

"Somewhere over Kanas, I think." The young criminal told him, appearing beside him. "Why? Should I find an airfield?"

"In this mess, waste of time. Besides we need to keep going if we want to find Kisame." Kakazu looked back to him and frowned under his mask. "Seventy-five thousand dollars if you find her and get her to us in Jump City."

Itachi could tell Red X wasn't happy with the idea even before he spoke. "You want me to jump out of a plane, scour all Kansas, in a damn snowstorm, to find a friend of yours?" He crossed his arms. "I can tell you what to do with you seventy-five grand."

Kakazu looked back to Sasori and Itachi but didn't say anything.

"Why are you looking at us?" Sasori asked.

"Do we really need her?" Kakazu asked right back to him.

Itachi almost felt like chuckling but kept a serious face. "Kakazu."

"Fine!" Kakazu relented. He looked back to Red X. "God damn it. One hundred thousand it is."

"Two hundred." Red X replied.

Harley could hear K seethe from the few rows she sat away from him. "Get. It. Done." He warned Red X.

Red X nodded. "Awesome. What does she look like?

* * *

Clark was still floating a few hundred feet above his parents' house beside when a static voice rang out from his ear-piece. "Superman?"

Batman's voice always caused for alarm. "Yeah? What's going on?" Clark asked, half expecting to hear of another alien invasion.

"Some interesting things have been happening over the last few days, I wanted to check in and see if anything strange has been going on in Smallville."

Clark almost laughed. If he didn't know better, it almost sounded like Batman was worried. "Do I need to remind you that I'm on vacation? Or that you should take one every now and again?"

Clark could hear the typing of Bruce's bat-computer as he replied. "The world doesn't stop turning simply because you want it to."

"I don't know, I feel like I could make a decent case for it." Clark laughed before refocusing. "What's been going on?"

"A few strange individuals have been appearing all over the place. A crazed moron named Hidan vanished from Atlantis after injuring Aquaman, another worked with a mercenary to cause an uproar at the Iceberg Lounge."

"Who was the mercenary?" Clark asked.

"K. He's got ties to Waller," Batman told him.

Clark narrowed his gaze. "That doesn't sound good. Should we go ask her about him?"

"I've dealt with him before," Batman explained. "He's dangerous but he's not the type for large scale destruction. At least, without someone paying him."

Superman rubbed his eyes. Mercenaries had never set right with him but if Batman didn't seem worried about him at the moment, he'd put it out of his mind. "Fine, so who's this other mystery man?"

"Name's Itachi," Batman told him. "Rather plain looking one but seems to be experienced, warrior and soldier. Consider him dangerous with an unknown motive."

"Any other people?"

"I was going to ask you that," Batman explained. "Anyone strange pop up in your neck of the woods?"

"It's Smallville," Clark chuckled. "It's hard to find anyone strange around here."

Batman, however, didn't share his sense of humor. "You didn't answer my question."

Clark thought back to Konan. She seemed to be haunted by her past but the way she was now, she can't have been that bad a person. And even if he was wrong, he was there with her. If something did happen, he was fairly certain he could take care of it.

"Yeah, my parents found a woman out here some time ago. She's been with them ever since."

"You're with her, now?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, just tossing a football around." Clark told him. "Look, I can't speak for any of the other strangers that are popping up but Konan seems like a good person."He knew his impression of Konan wouldn't matter all that much to Batman but Clark felt like he should add it in any way.

"That aside," Batman told him, did she say anything about her past or where she came from?"

Clark thought back to her earlier conversations with her and remembered the details. "She mentioned that her home was something called Amegakure to Lois. But she couldn't make sense of it."

"Amegakure?" Batman asked back for to himself than for Clark to answer. "That's Japanese for village hidden by the rain." Another link that led back to Japan. "Anything else?"

"She did say she was in a group at one point but I haven't been able to get any more information about it," Clark remembered the two names Batman had given him. "You think she used to run with those other guys, Hidan and Itachi?"

"They're certainly linked," Batman admitted. "If nothing else than all three were of Asian descent. Probably Japanese." Batman remembered Hidan's blood-related power and just how different it seemed to everything else he and the League encountered. "Does Konan have any abilities that would be considered different from the people we usually face off with?"

Clark wasn't sure what he meant by that considering they fought some very strange people with even stranger powers over the years but he nevertheless gave his answer. "She can manipulate paper." He chuckled. "Right now she's flying around with two wings made out of the stuff. She also said something about being low on chakra."

There was a brief pause in Batman's typing before he replied. "That doesn't seem weird to you?"

"No more than usual," Clark replied. "You dress up like a bat for a living so are you really one to talk?" He thought he could almost hear a chuckle from the caped crusader but more than likely it was the static temporarily kicking in.

"What are you planning to do with her?"

"She'll probably stay through the holidays with me, Lois and the folks," Clark explained. "I'll keep an eye on her until we figure out this whole mess."

"Good," Batman replied. "I'll be in touch."

"Bruce?" Clark asked.

"What is it?"

"Learn to take it easy every now and then." Clark laughed.

This time he definitely heard a chuckle. "No promises," Batman replied before finally cutting out. Clark smiled at his friend's antics. The man was always going to be serious natured but Clark was glad he was able to get him to emote even only slightly. If nothing else, than to remind Bruce that he's still a man under all that cape and angst.

Clark looked back up to the sky to see Konan drifting back down to meet him. "I throw it too hard?" He asked with a smile.

Konan shook her head. "No, I just wandered off for a bit."

* * *

Unlike her two teammates that sat in virtual awe of the man's ability to scarf down food, Raven wasn't quite sure what to make of it. One would think he hadn't eaten in days. Fifteen plates of nothing but shrimp and crab. Some of which hadn't even been cooked fully now sat stacked up in rows around the group. Drago himself tore into another crab as Raven finally spoke what was on her mind.

"You weren't kidding, were you?"

Drago gave a swift nod. "I try not to lie so much these days. So whatever I say, you can take it as the truth."

"All right," Cyborg replied, after chowing down on a few bites of shrimp himself. "How'd you get so strong?"

A loud snap was heard when Drago tore a piece of the leg off the cooked crab. "Practice." He answered.

Raven kept her stare at the man. "No experiment went wrong or natural born gift?"

Drago let out a subdued cough. "You guys make it seem like being strong comes with some prerequisites." Drago replied."I'm just not that interesting."

Raven still didn't buy the answer but it was Beastboy's turn to ask a question. "So does everyone else in Seven Swordsman have powers?" He asked.

Drago thought of all the ways he could answer that before shaking his head. "Nah. They're just a group of Russian misfits who I thought could benefit from each other's company. Then it turned out that they liked music and that was that."

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "So you're not Russian?"

"What gave it away? I thought I was doing pretty well on my accent." Drago replied with a laugh, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. " I've lived there for the past few years but..." There was a pause and Raven could see a glint of sadness in Kisame's pale eyes. "I've never really felt like it was home."

"So where are you from?"

"Will that be all for you, Titans?" A server asked, interrupting before Drago could give his reply. Though he looked like he could eat more, Drago nodded.

"That'll do it for me." He answered. Cyborg nodded and handed the server a card though not before letting out a burp. She laughed as did Drago who was quick to follow it up with a reply. "Sure, and I apologize for our friend here."

Cyborg seemed to take the joke in stride and looked over to a nearby empty stage. "How about a song?"

Drago chuckled. "How about no?"

Even though he didn't create the idea, Beastboy liked it almost immediately. "I second that."

"Overruled." Drago continued, still defiant.

Beastboy would have none of it, however. "Dude, c'mon! We bought you food."

"After I saved your asses," Drago replied. "Besides, I don't sing."

"You're in a band." Raven reminded him. "Which makes you way more qualified than the rest of us."

"Look, " Cyborg spoke up. "I know BB can't sing and I know Raven wouldn't be seen trying. So just do us a favor and sing for a bit. We'll call it even."

"All right. Fine." Drago sighed. "But don't expect something too energetic."

"Yeah, why would we assume that from the rockstar?" Raven added.

Drago scowled at her got up from his chair and walked to the small stage as a few onlookers gave light applause for someone finally going on. In truth, He was more than capable of really letting loose in this place but the talk with Raven about home had brought up some memories. Some good and plenty bad, but neither really put him into a mood of rocking out. He grabbed an old, worn guitar that sat to the side and sat down on a stool in the middle of the stage. He checked the instrument making sure it was rightly tuned all the while thinking of what song he should play. A light bulb went off in his head and he started playing a nice low tune.

"Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. It takes a lot to change a man. Hell, it takes a lot to try. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die."

Cyborg, Raven, and Beastboy all looked surprised at how somber the song was from the man who always seemed to be energetic but it was by no means terrible coming from him.

"Nobody knows what waits for the dead. Nobody knows what waits for the dead. Some folks just believe in the things they've heard and the things they read. Nobody knows what awaits for the dead."

"I'm glad I can't go back to where I came from. I'm glad those days are gone, gone for good. But if I could take spirits from my past and bring 'em here. You know I would. Know I would"

Drago's face scrunched up for a brief moment but the look quickly disappeared as he moved on with the song.

"Nobody speaks to God these days. Nobody speaks to God these days. I'd like to think he's lookin' down and laughin' at our ways. Nobody speaks to God these days."

"When I was a child, they tried to fool me. Said the worldly man was lost and that a Hell was real. Well, I've seen Hell in Reno and this world's one big old Catherine wheel. Spinnin' steel."

"Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die, It takes a lot to change your plans. And a train to change your mind. Maybe it's time to let the old ways die. Oh, maybe it's time to let the old ways die"

There was a brief moment of silence before the restaurant rang out with subdued applause. Kisame smiled and got up from the stage, walking back to the table the Titans were sitting at. He was more than surprised when he saw that in addition to the clapping of Cyborg and Beastboy, Raven herself added her own. "That, that was surprisingly nice."

"I told you not to expect something loud," Kisame replied, sitting down. "Something's got me feeling sentimental."

The group went right back to their food and any following conversations were kept light with little inquiries into the life of a musician and the life of a superhero. Cyborg kept him riveted with his talk of cybernetics and his overzealous love for the T-Car. Beastboy talked his ear off about being a huge singing champ in Japan and insisting he had the skill to go global if he wanted to. Raven didn't seem to share her friend's enthusiasm for talking but Drago did manage to get a few words out of her; saying how he liked the cloak and how he used to have one back home though it varied in color and design.

As the conversation went on, Beastboy could note Raven lowering her guard at the man. She still kept her seemingly uncaring attitude and her answers to his questions were quick and very vague in description. Yet Drago seemed to smile the most whenever she did answer as if he had been used to talking to someone who didn't talk nearly as much as he did.

"Well Titans, I better be hitting the water," Drago said group as the exited back onto the street. "I gotta say though, I had fun today."

"Same, dude!" Beastboy exclaimed as the group walked down towards the pier. "Where are you staying at?"

Drago smiled. "Tahiti."

"That supposed to be funny?" Raven asked.

"I think so." Drago laughed. "All joking aside, I do have an island in the Pacific. It's where I stay when I'm on vacation."

Cyborg looked confused as they continued to pass by a series of nice looking boats. "Wait, then how did you get here?"

Drago stopped just as he passed the last visible boat at the pier and stood just above what looked like a rough looking surfboard. "I surfed." He stepped onto the surprisingly steady board. "As I said, I'm just in town to check up on the band." He looked to Beastboy and smiled. "You ever want tickets you just mention my name to Ivan and say Samehada." He laughed as he almost forgot he was standing in front of superheroes. "If they don't give you them in the first place."

Beastboy opened his mouth to say something when all three of the Titans communicators rang out in alarm. Cyborg was the first to open his and Robin's voice came through. "Titans! We got trouble at the tower!"

"On our way," Cyborg replied just as a large explosion rang out from across the bay and towards the distant T shape tower. Raven immediately took to the air, carrying Cyborg with her magic.

Beastboy looked up after them and then back to Drago. "See ya later, I guess." Beastboy smiled and shapeshifted into a hawk and shot into the air.

Drago's smile faded as the trio began to blur as they flew off to their home. They were good kids, he thought. Much more so than him at their age. He looked down at his board and sighed. He needed to get out of this city before his blood got boiling again. But before he could shoot off into the bay, another loud explosion rang out from the Tower. This one echoing far louder than the one before. Not a moment later, Dragon suddenly felt a wave of chakra spill out through the bay. Drago's smile returned and he decided he was still unsatisfied with the bout from earlier. Maybe someone over there could provide a challenge. And if not that, maybe he had finally found a familiar face.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this took longer to get out than I wanted it to. I don't really have a good reason for the wait so, apologies. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to some action in the next installment.**


End file.
